April 8, 2007

Cultivation and Enrichment: Suggestions for Improving the Developmental Psychology Program at USC

The mission of the University of Southern California is "the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit." In 2004, the university wisely realized that to stay true to its mission in a time of technological growth, globalization, and competition, a new strategic plan needed to be devised, the introduction to which states: "Our focus on increasing academic excellence, on hiring the best and most creative faculty, and on encouraging pathbreaking research, must continue to underpin all of our future activities.... At the same time we must acknowledge the fact that conditions in the world are changing ever more rapidly. Thus, more flexible strategies must be developed which will enable USC to accelerate its progress under evolving external circumstances." The document calls on USC to become one of the most influential research universities by conducting research that has an impact on the community, the nation, and the world; creating a significant global presence; and focusing educational programs to meet the needs of qualified students worldwide through curriculum, admissions, support services, and more. As a way to advance this ambitious agenda, the USC College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences created the Dean's Prize in order to challenge students to propose ideas that would make the educational experience at USC College even more fulfilling. In response to this challenge, I have come up with several suggestions that I believe would enrich the experience of students studying developmental psychology at USC. Furthermore, I believe that, if implemented, these additions could have a significant impact on society.

As evidenced by my previous two posts, I am devoted to the notion that today's adolescents constitute the future of our world. They will become the leaders of the next generation and their actions will determine the course of our society. However, as I have discussed, many adolescents are not receiving the support they need to reach their full potentials. Maybe this is happening because they are simply being forgotten in the academic and professional worlds. In today's dizzying environment of technological and global growth, educational programs are becoming more and more focused on careers that will advance these trends. The 2004 strategic plan notes that, "As the twenty-first century opens, the external environment for higher education is quickly changing in significant ways.... After five decades of relative stability, policies are shifting toward a greater emphasis on research that directly addresses practical issues in the national interest." These "practical issues" are assumed to be with respect to technology, international relations, and politics. I disagree with this assumption. In my
opinion there could be no issue more practical than ensuring the ideal development of the leaders of the future.

This is the crucial time at which a decision must be made by the university to go along with the narrow national plan of shifting education to focus on science, technology, and politics, or to think outside of the box and focus on other areas that are not so obvious but that will have a significant impact on the world. Currently, USC offers six majors within the Rossier School of Education. A psychology major at USC College, however, offers only three classes devoted to development. While this is much better than the one course offered by New York University, three class
es is not enough to stimulate interest in someone to become an educator or a mentor. Many psychology professors offer extra credit for participation in JEP, a program in which students like the one on the right go to classrooms in the less fortunate surrounding area and teach youth. Keri Valentine, an administrator at a local high school for adolescents who have served time in a juvenile detention center, stated in a USC News article that, "The kids look up to [the JEP participants]. We have some tough students here. But they listen to the USC students and don't bring up their negative activity when they're here." The article recounts the story of a student named Mariela Membreno who was pleasantly surprised at the support she recieved from her USC mentor Anne Cecconi. Most USC students choose not to participate in JEP like Cecconi did because a few points of extra credit is not worth hours of their free time. My idea: turn JEP into a class. Offer one or two units of actual credit for taking JEP as an elective class. This would make participation more worth the time for students, and I believe that participation would increase a great amount. With a little more outreach from caring people like USC students, the adolescents can be pulled out of trouble and may still have a chance to become leaders.

What else can be done to ensure that education in development remains stimulating? The adolescent development class that I am currently taking could be much more interesting since, like most psychology classes at USC, there is a lecture twice a week during which the students take notes, along with the occasional PBS video clip. I feel that so much more could be experienced and learned about in the class. Whatever happened to field trips? Let us get out there in the world and learn about adolescent development in person. A hands-on educational experience would be meaningful because listening to someone who has seen something and actually seeing it are two very different phenomena. If my class went to study in the community the issues I have discussed in my posts by meeting teenagers affected by those problems at local schools or juvenile detention centers, the students could very well be moved to do something proactive to help solve them. Involvement, participation, and stimulation are key to getting USC students to choose careers and activities that will help reverse the negative trends gripping many of today's adolescents. USC can make a local, national, and global impact by encouraging its students to actively participate in the fight to save our future by saving our adolescents.

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