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.

April 1, 2007

Reclaiming Purpose and Passion: Why Dr. Dawna Markova Deserves a USC Honorary Degree

With graduation quickly approaching, this week I am discussing an important figure in the field of adolescent development psychology and why I believe she should be given a USC honorary degree at commencement this spring. The woman I am speaking of is Dr. Dawna Markova. Through noting her in my previous post, I learned that Markova is a fascinating woman, the type of professional that I aspire to be. In short, she is the Superwoman of adolescent development. The honorary degree, USC's highest award, is given to "honor individuals who have distinguished themselves through extraordinary achievements in scholarship, the professions, or other creative activities, whether or not they are widely known by the general public." Dr. Markova has certainly distinguished herself as a scholar and humanitarian.

Faithful, scholarly, skillful, courageous, and ambitious: the qualities of a Trojan. Dr. Markova possesses each of these qualities beautifully.
She is faithful to her cause, helping people all over the world learn with passion and live purposeful lives. Her places of business have varied from third world classrooms to corporate boardrooms. Markova could not be more scholarly, having PhD's in psychology and education, and having written seven books that have been published in ten languages. Her entire career is dedicated to education and the pursuit of personal fulfillment through learning. She writes on her blog, "As a learning junkie, nothing is as compelling to me as the light that is emitted from a person when learning is occurring. It has always been my handhold in the darkness... Learning is so much more than a transfer of information. It can mean wholeness, empowerment, actualization, liberation." I think that Dr. Markova must be rather skillful, courageous, and ambitious to have achieved all of her successes. It is not common for a psychologist to also be a teacher, volunteer, author, speaker, consultant, CEO, poet, parent, grandparent, and cancer survivor.

What does Dr. Markova have to say to the graduating generation? I believe she has more to say than can even be expressed in the time given for a speech. In an interview with Leverage Points, Markova says, " I think that the fragmentation and disengagement we're experiencing now comes, in large part, from the fact that we're living in a culture that doesn't cultivate wisdom...If you don't cultivate a garden, you don't get fruit... We can help each other develop strategies for bringing tomorrow into today's choices by falling in love with beautiful, dangerous, mysterious questions that can't be answered, by reminding one another that what matters to us is important, and by remembering those who stand behind us." In this small slice of Markova's wisdom, I find inspiration. Markova believes in the future, in progress, and above all she believes in learning.

While Dr. Markova may seem like an obvious choice, having been a keynote speaker at hundreds of events, no other professional in my field could be more qualified to receive a USC honorary degree as a Doctor of Humane Letters. She is the epitome of an outstanding citizen, dedicating herself to society in everything that she does. In one of her books, I Will Not Die and Unlived Life, Markova writes, "I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me; to make me less afraid, more accessible; to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which came to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which came to me as blossom, goes on as fruit." If Markova could inspire every member of the graduating generation to approach life the way she has, the world would be a better place.