 |
|
Colleges become democracy 'boot camps'
Project-based political science classes help students make the leap from theory to practice.
from the December 13, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
The professors of these courses seek out diverse opinions and minority voices. "If a student expresses some discomfort with a point of view, we'll [ask him or her] to take that point of view and learn how to argue with it," says Alma Blount, director of the Hart Leadership Program at Duke University.
When Battistoni has students lead the class, at least one takes on the role of "vibes watcher." "If students are attacking other students instead of their ideas ... the vibes watcher can intervene," he says. "If students are silent or not really voicing their opinions ... the vibes watcher tries to lift those voices up."
It's not an easy job. During one discussion about gender and 19th-century laws, the issue of rape within marriage came up. One student said he didn't understand how it was possible for there to be rape in marriage, and the student discussion leaders "didn't want to honor that opinion at all," Battistoni says. After a few minutes of heated discussion, everyone backed off. "Some faculty are reticent to have open dialogue and discussion-based courses, because you never know what's going to happen," he says.
Many of the courses include service-learning projects, which are predictors of political engagement, according to a report by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at the University of California, Los Angeles.
In Ms. Blount's year-long Service Opportunities in Leadership course, students create community-based research projects for the summer and then follow up with policy recommendations.
Student discovers the power of one
Channing Mathews, now a junior at Duke, went to Charlotte, N.C., to work with a community group and to study tensions between Hispanic immigrants and African-Americans.
When Ms. Mathews started college, she says her idea of "politics" was narrow – she thought it pertained mainly to elected politicians, and she had little interest. "I was pretty disillusioned with the idea of me making a difference," she says.
Now she's written a 25-page memo for the community group, detailing the issues raised among those she interviewed in Charlotte. Next she wants to apply the lessons to improving campus racial dialogue.
"This class by far is the hardest I've ever taken at Duke," Mathews says. "I'm being pushed to really think about what I care about and ... to take action about it."
RSS feed
