Vocation, Values, and Taboo Topics

As we mused on themes of values and post-Olaf life, we realized that there was a crucial element missing. The typical college student in our generation is career-focused, vocation-seeking, and professional-future-oriented, and it is seen as detrimental, archaic, or unambitious to also pursue a life partner during our college career. How did we feel about this as a community?

Sudip sent us two fascinating articles to read. This one explores the modern trend of women embracing career-driven roles and avoiding romantic relationships in college, and this one discusses the advantages to marrying young, offering a perspective with which many of us were unfamiliar. After reading each piece, we had a discussion about our perceptions of the culture of dating, hooking up, and relationships at St. Olaf and about our own personal visions for how we see this incorporated into our lives.

In general, we found that the New York Times piece was too binary and assumptive. Does one have to completely sacrifice one's dating life in order to be academically and professionally successful? We certainly hope not. Many of us see ourselves eventually being married/having a life partner and/or starting a family. As a group of students hoping to lead a holistic and balanced life, this seems counterintuitive. Also, we generally found that the cases mentioned here were on the far end of the spectrum. While we acknowledge that the St. Olaf campus still does foster a certain element of a need to be in a relationship, we thought that this practice may be more unhealthy.

At the same time, we all believe that most St. Olaf students have very little experience being independent outside of campus life, perhaps some time a abroad, and maybe a summer or two at a summer camp. And we feel that these experiences really aren't enough of an exposure to a non-cushioned life to give us the perspective we need on what matters to us in a life partner. While we acknowledge that it can be valuable to find long-term relationships in college, it may not be wise to commit to them in the very long-term before living after graduation.

We posed several other questions for ourselves. Why do many women our age reject the feminism term? What are things everyone would not bend on when it comes to selecting a life partner? How is love for a partner different than the deep love in a close friendship? How do we balance being passionate about service with wanting to raise a family?

Talking about something that is generally taboo to personalize made us think critically about how we've evaluated our values this summer and how we tangibly see them as present in these sorts of situations.

Ethics and values

We at the St. Paul House have often talked of the importance of enacting our values in all sectors of our lives. This integration is a key component of social change. For us, it is an enormous privilege to have internships that are meaningful often align with our values. There may be times where we will have to find a paycheck just to survive, but we will keep our values and our passions close, finding venues to express them. 

Things we have learned

In Japan, all there of us interned for an organization called Asian Rural Institute,. Although, we all interning at the same oIn Japan, all there of us interned for an organization called Asian Rural Institute,. Although, we all interning at the same organization, we wanted to explore difficult topics. 

What Have We Learned After All?

"Social advance depends as much upon the process through which it is secured as upon the result itself." --Jane Addams


As our LSC experience winds to a close, the Northfield house would like to digest further the following (in no particular order of importance):

The Art of Value

Paul Knutson is Rice County’s Assessor; his job is to go to each property in Rice County and declare how much value each property has. When asked what method he used to measure “value,” Paul responded, “What I do is not a science. It is an art. You might tell me that the house across the street from here is worth $100,000. But I’d tell you that it’s worth $150,000. Value is completely subjective.”

Not an Intruder – Just an Intern

"“Ma’am, don’t leave your post!” the bailiff nearly shouted into the phone. “I think we’ve got an intruder. Don’t let him leave, and don’t you dare let him take anything out of that backpack!”"

Artes Liberales: Alma Mater*

A reflective response to Donald Kagan’s Farewell Speech, "Ave Atque Vale"

Having little or no sense of the human experience through the ages, of what has been tried, of what has succeeded and what has failed, of what is the price of cherishing some values as opposed to others, or of how values relate to one another, they leap from acting as though anything is possible, without cost, to despairing that nothing is possible.

The Great White Conversation

The liberal arts have been known for their teaching of the "classics" - Plato, Socrates, Shakespeare. By appreciating the classics, we can learn from history... only with such a background can we create informative and innovative ideas that progress us into a "good life" and a more beneficial future. I experienced this firsthand through St. Olaf's Great Conversation program my first two years of college - or what we liked to call it: The Great White Conversation.

Liberal Arts and Cultural Disconect

Kagan in his farewell speech "Ave atque vale" evaluates the evolution of liberal arts education. He criticized the failure of modern liberal arts colleges:

Class room learning can be very theoretical. The books we read and topics we cover in our courses can be very abstract.

Allegiance and Devotion

As students of the liberal arts, we are driven to enhance our understanding of the world, to seek truth, to foster discussion and productive criticism, to question what we have been taught is reality, to avoid taking things at face value, and to enrich our own education experience. We select majors, degrees, concentrations, focuses, and studies to prepare ourselves for a specific career or life path, and we expect that our liberal arts education will enable us to be effective, successful, fulfilled, and contributive individuals.

Free and Humble

Liberal arts education is supposed to make us free. Its also supposed to make us creative. Think of the most bizarre thing you can think of- an alien, say. Now go back to the figure you have on your mind and think about what constitutes the alien- I bet all the things you have used are the things that you have seen before.

Ave atque vale... et te contradic?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, what really sparked me into thinking about the liberal arts recently was a job posting I stumbled upon (or as a liberal arts professor might phrase it, a job posting upon which I stumbled).  The posting was for a government agency in Vermont, and it advertized an entry-level position for a student just completing either a graduate or an undergraduate degree in planning.

Education of Exploration

 I am someone who is passionate about music and the arts in general, but I feel somewhat unfulfilled by my music studies at Olaf.  I feel that my music major has only really prepared me to become a better musician… and nothing more. 

Life's "Important Questions"

In his essay "Ave Atque Vale," Donald Kagan laments the current state of liberal education in the U.S., comparing it to the education received by English gentlemen in the eighteenth century, which "prized sociability over the solitude of hard study." According to Kagan, liberal education has abandoned its quest of knowledge as an end in itself, failing to provide undergraduates with a common philosophical and historical foundation upon which to discuss life's important questions.

Natural sciences vs. social sciences

               As a non-natural science or mathematics major, I find a problem with Kagan’s assertion that, within a modern liberal arts education, only those majoring in the natural sciences or mathematics come to appreciate learning and “knowledge as a good in themselves.”

Perspectives on the Liberal Arts

Donald Kagan writes,  "Instead, I find a kind of cultural void, an ignorance of the past, a sense of rootlessness and aimlessness, as though not only the students but also the world was born yesterday, a feeling that they are attached to the society in which they live only incidentally and accidentally."

Knowing Something of Everything

Kagan says, of free men in ancient society, that they "must know something of everything and understand general principles without yielding to the narrowness of expertise."

Kagan, the Liberal Arts, and the Environment

In his writing, Kagan states very clearly that, "we must all think about our values, responsibilities, and our relationships with one another and with the society in which we live. This is the purpose of a liberal arts education. He goes on to include possible studies like history, philosophy  and the arts. He also importantly notes the importance of a moral and civic education. However, there is one key part missing from all of this: The environment.

Pride and Precedent

“Having little or no sense of the human experience through the ages, of what has been tried, of what has succeeded and what has failed, of what is the price of cherishing some values as opposed to others, or of how values relate to one another, they leap from acting as though anything is possible, without cost, to despairing that nothing is possible.”

The Future of Liberal Arts

The Limitations of Free Speech

Freedom of speech is often heralded as a core value of American society, and Kagan clearly calls for its necessity in liberal arts education, but I question whether there are some limitations to free speech. I think back to the many, many hurtful comments that have been permitted on campus and off, guarded by the sanctity of free speech. I think back to the casual racist epithets that are used behind closed dorm doors, to the hurtful name-calling of my high school days, and to the homophobic free speech that has caused many of my friends so much pain.

The Generation to Watch - For What Reason?

       In generational terms, success always seems relative. Donald Kagan, an American historian at Yale University, paints our present generation as a doubting, aimless, bipolar mass of individuals that fail to understand their own isolation. Or, apparently, their own potential.

       According to Kagan, the liberal arts system of today "[fails] to enhance students' understanding of their role as free citizens ... and the responsibilities it entails" (emphasis mine). In our increasingly individualistic society, the continued emphasis on success and ambition crowds out the harmonizing, solid foundation of community.

       Kagan still fears our loss of "a sense of the human experience through the age." This may seem abstract, but the meaning remains quite clear: hidden in the history and literature of the past lies personalized messages of struggle and transformation. Yet if we do not view it as our "responsibility" to grasp these ideals for ourselves, we will indeed drift away into the "rootlessness" of which Kagan spoke.

       A simple example: the distractions of social media. Just the other day, my elder sister mentioned the difficulty of maintaining motivation for higher learning when our minds were filled with scraps of news from Facebook and Twitter.

       "We unintentionally absorb hundreds of pieces of information while scrolling through a page," she said. And that, more than anything, takes up space in our minds.

       Can we comprehend our responsibility to this earth and its history? Perhaps, if we flush out the other bits of fluff. It is difficult to wade through the griping about the laziness of the Millennial generation, but I have found one thing about our generation that surprises me the most: we are most confident that we - as individuals - can personally impact the world.

         Perhaps we do understand our own potential.

    

Liberal Arts in a Financially-Driven World

"As Professor Kagan noted, we no longer live in a world driven by the inculcation of values, nor by the quest of pure knowledge. Rather, we, as a society, understand freedom in a financial sense. In that way, liberal arts institutions do indeed promote freedom for their students – in that its students are free to make money in whatever way they choose. At St. Olaf, evidence of this abounds."

Leadership Conversation over Shortcake

During our community conversation this week, Sudip started us off with an interesting fact: the lag between research and implementation of research (especially in politics) is 20 years. 20 years for something proven to work or make a system better to be put into action! We all thought that that does 

A Brief Conversation about Leadership

Leaders are the face of organizations. In the social impact sector, we believe that leaders hold the role to make connections with people, offer support, and become involved with the people who can help create change. Good leaders should have a strong sense of the organization’s culture and values that they bring into practice in daily life, they should be humble yet conscious about the power they hold, and always look for innovative ways to reach their goals. 

For changing lives

In the Phillips neighborhood, there is a building on Park Avenue--newly built, bright, and modern. It was named the Center for Changing Lives--it houses a Somali-owned daycare, a Lutheran pentecostal church, an affordable cafe, Refugee Services of Lutheran Social Service (LSS), and other social services. I take my laptop over there from the main LSS administrative building in St. Paul every week or so to work in the space with Pastor Mary, one of my supervisors. We go there because, we say, we want to get our lives changed.

What Makes You Happiest?

In his article "The Way to Produce a Person," David Brooks relates the story of Jason Trigg, a Wall Street hedge fund manager who lives well below his means and donates the majority of his earnings to fighting malaria. Brooks urges caution to anyone thinking of doing the same, outlining three main concerns.

Yay Muppets !!!

Did you know that 1 in every 15 African American children in the US have a parent currently incarcerated? A lot of these children are very young- many are preschoolers and grade-school children. The emotional trauma these kids have to go through is immense. 

A Myth: Social Change without Personal Change

"Perhaps you are a better person than I am. I hope you are. But, if you’re like me, take this moment to remind yourself: we are parts of the problems in this world. We acknowledge that we are part of a broken society, yet we are participants in this brokenness, and we are fools if, even in our activism to change it, we separate ourselves from it."

"Sit down, shut up, and listen."

I can barely begin to think about all the theory and methodology that has gone into all of the lessons I've received from teachers since age 3. I had always assumed that teachers just had natural tendencies that enabled them to effectively communicate with even the most difficult child, break up fights between stubborn youth, and manage to have an entire room of squeamish and impatient elementary students focus politely on what they were saying.

Learning from Doing

I don't know about the rest of you high achievers, but I've always had trouble admitting that I don’t understand something, especially when it comes to academic knowledge or a similar skill set. Not understanding a subject or an idea is incredibly frustrating to me, probably one of the things that frustrate me the most.

A Lesson from Pink Eye

Perhaps one of the more mundane lessons that I have learned from my internship experience so far with SHAC is that my immune system is not used to the illnesses of little kids. I have been sick for about a week and a half now with pink eye and a bad cough, but if you'll bear with me, I'll turn my experience with sickness into a reflective blog post.

One Banana Only, Please!

Banana is one of the cheapest fruits available in grocery stores nearby. It is our house-fruit, mainly because of two reasons: healthy and budget friendly. With approximately $135/weekly budget for dinner and shared food such as bread, milk, peanut butter and jelly, and banana (of course), we really need to be wise on deciding what to buy. Buying bananas is definitely a win-win solution so we do buy them every week. Here comes the problem though:  bananas are usually gone by Wednesday. Thus, we keep buying more, but seriously, how many bananas are too many? We can't just fill the whole shopping cart with bananas because then the other people will lose the opportunity to keep their budget low (not the actual reason).

Why else would a tough middle-school boy want to do yoga?

A student of mine is the poster child for “at risk youth”.  He is the playground bully threatening to beat up everyone up who crosses his short fused temper.  He is the anarchist rejecting all authority of his teachers.  He is the forced participant of summer school programming just so that he can make it to the 9^th grade and not dropout.

Roots and Tops

Over the last few days, I have learned much about how my organization functions in the public sphere.  I met (well, encountered) two of its board members in the real world, learned about its role in transit legislative coalitions, and spent some less-than-captivating time with the online member database.

The Impact of Storytelling

You have all most likely heard the phrase "Kids say the darndest things", referring to the hysterical comments that kids tend to say in the most unlikely moments.  Having the opportunity to work with students ranging from 2nd graders to 12th graders, my days are filled with these "darndest" moments.

Getting Schooled in Early Childhood Family Education

This past week I had a few opportunities to volunteer at some of the early childhood family education (ECFE) programs in Northfield, as well as participating in Fairbault’s Mondays’ in the Park. I believe my participation within these programs and discussing early childhood programming with Professor Gross and Gina have given me a beginning sense of the programming differences and struggles between Northfield and Fairbault.

Responsibility and Community

Our house conversation last week got me thinking about the role of responsibility in a community. Members of a household community, for example, may have simple, specific responsibilities such as washing the dishes, taking out the trash, buying groceries, or cooking dinner.

Learning from Lice

As some of you know, the Northfield house has been struck by an infestation of these gorgeous creatures:

The Role of a Changemaker & The Importance of Empathy

Throughout these past few weeks while working for Ashoka, I've been challenged to view "social change" through a very critical lens.  Ashoka, an international organization focused on changing systems, has already exposed me to a plethora of the world's best social entrepreneurs - honored with the Ashoka Fellow title - and their solutions for making our world a better place. 

A Tripartite Theory of Empathy (and biking)

 “[Cities] are not like suburbs, only denser. They differ from towns and suburbs in basic ways, and one of these is that cities are, by definition, full of strangers.”

            - Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Sustainability on a Budget

Hello! I'm Will, and I've been doing summer research instead of an internship in the Leaders for Social Change program. I've been examining sustainability, and how we can engrain it in our culture in order to create more resilient communities.

"I believe consenting to society is an active choice, unless you’re Mountain Man Walden or something."

Over zucchini spaghetti and cookie dough cheesecake, our community discussed  David Brook's New York Times op-ed "The Way to Produce a Person", which was written in response to Dave Matthew's "Join Wall Street. Save the World" this week. The articles are about Jason Trigg, who works at a hedge fund on Wall Street and gives back the majority of his money to charity.

Fitting Individuals into the Fabric of a Community

     Last Wednesday's conversation steered me toward the idea of a community from an individual's perspective. I cannot think about a community without considering each person's role - and after living in Lincoln Manor for three weeks, my mind obviously turns to the roles each of us plays in the house.

Community Conversation on Community (St. Paul House)

Sonja got us off to a rousing start this week, sharing some examples of the local rules and regulations sometimes passed in the name of community, such as codes on building appearances and the sale of alcohol.  From there, we moved back to address some of the fundamentals in talking about community...

Conversation and Community in the Northfield House

After a draining and nit-picky week, many of our internships and research positions were finally coming to fruition. Matthew started his position at the Arts Guild, and many of us now felt more comfortable in our new experience.

Coming out of an intense Twin Cities seminar, many of us had the idea of community on our minds. What is community? What does it mean? What’s the goal of a community? What makes a good community? 

A rousing conversation followed.

Asian Rural Institute: Culture, Community, and Conversation

Hello from Japan! David, Hawera, and I have almost completed our first week at the Asian Rural Institute. During our conversation last night, we discussed our initial impressions of ARI and how the culture compares to St. Olaf.

Pickles, Northfield House, Social Change ...?

Our refrigerator has a paper with a running tally of quotes on it. Some of them came from our time cooking, some from excursions outside the house, but one thing remains constant: all our quotes came from extensive conversations with our housemates.

Real Talk with the St. Paul LSC-ers

During our discussion, when Mike was describing his organization, he said: "I feel like I hit that nail on the head there. And, also, probably missed a couple of them too."  In other words, we are still getting a feel for our internships - we learned a lot in the past week, but also still have some stuff to figure out (how many times have we gotten lost biking or busing? You don't want to know). 

Northfield House Summer Goals

Summary of Community Goals:

St. Paul House Summer Goals

Summary of Summer Community Goals:

Orientation Picture

Program Overview

The Leaders for Social Change program complements a St. Olaf education by providing an opportunity for students to complete an internship or research project in Northfield or the Twin Cities while participating in ongoing academic and vocational reflection with faculty, staff, community leaders and alumni. Students gain professional experience, discern their vocations and develop leadership skills that prepare them to foster the common good in future civic and work roles.

More information about the St. Olaf Leaders for Social Change Summer Internship Program