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Should Colleges and Universities Teach Personal and Social Responsibility?
By Richard Krueger and Larry Rogers, in the NEA Higher Education Advocate (June 2006)
The question of whether personal and social responsibility should be taught in college was the subject of two brief editorials that appeared in the June 2006 issue of the NEA Higher Education Advocate. Richard Krueger, a business instructor at Schoolcraft College, makes the case for teaching responsibility in college, while Larry Rogers, an education professor at South Dakota State University, responds that faculty should focus on cognitive development rather than personal and social development.
Richard Krueger argues that students should be taught “not just how to accomplish work, but how to accomplish the work in a moral and ethical manner.” Today, many public officials and business leaders are “more interested in their own agendas and paychecks than what is good for their constituents, employees, and the cities they work in,” says Krueger. College students, meanwhile, often “fail to show up for class, come to class late, use their phones during the class, or fail to do required work on time.” College is an appropriate time to teach students the responsibility they will need in life and work, Krueger says.
In his response, Larry Rogers cites research showing that students’ relationships with peers are more influential than their relationships with faculty. Professors, he writes, “know that they, and what they teach and research, are of secondary importance to students.” Moreover, “faculty members generally recognize that they do not possess the kind of working knowledge of development that would let them deal with the whole gamut of student growth,” he says.
The full exchange between Richard Krueger and Larry Rogers is available online.
AAC&U’s new initiative, Core Commitments: Educating Students for Personal and Social Responsibility, will work with a network of colleges and universities to more purposefully develop students’ personal and social responsibility. The initiative will issue a call for proposals for colleges and universities interested in taking part in the initiative by the end of September.
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