INTRODUCTION

Introduction

Since the foundation of the Jesuit Order, the Jesuits have endeavored to educate and instill in their students, the desire and ability to serve others. Simply stated, the First Principle and Foundation of the Jesuits is that “The human person is created to praise, reverence, and serve God Our Lord, and by doing so, to save his or her soul” (Boston College).

On their updated website, the Jesuits claim to “…[Serve] the Catholic Church for the greater glory of God…men on the move, ready to change place, occupation, method — whatever will advance our mission in the Church. We are expected to do anything or go anywhere to help people experience Jesus Christ in their daily lives” (Jesuit Mission Online).

Each year, billions of dollars are spent on Jesuit education and the promise for a transformative educational experience. This fundamental objective has permeated the Jesuit educational tradition throughout its history and remains alive in the mission of Jesuit schools like Santa Clara University. Unfortunately, since the turn of the 20th Century, Jesuit institutions of higher learning have become increasingly focused on teaching students the practical skills and methods of thinking necessary to succeed in the modern workplace at the expense of the traditional Jesuit focus on servitude and the education of the whole person: mind, body, spirit, and soul.

Current data supports the Jesuit belief that service learning is essential for rich character development. In his paper, "Impact Of A Service-Learning Course On First-Year Pharmacy Students' Learning Outcomes", Kevin Kearney found that almost 100% of the students who engaged in service-learning demonstrated better communication skills and marginally more interest and commitment to their community than their peers educated exclusively in the classroom (Kearney 1-7).

Additionally, Leila R. Brammer conducted student interviews that helped her discover that students themselves believe in the effectiveness of service-learning. Given the chance to develop their own research project with self-motivated study and implementation, students reported more personal impact than any previous volunteering experience. This proves that not only can the personal effects of service-learning be measured, but such measurement can determine whether or not the service-learning has been implemented correctly, based on empirical data.

In an attempt to fully educate its students and fulfill the Jesuit value of holistic education, Santa Clara University requires all students to take an Experiential Learning for Social Justice (or ELSJ) course. This program requirement is designed to cultivate character development through experiential learning that will ultimately instill a “…sensibility toward power and privilege, an understanding of the causes of human suffering, and a sense of personal and civic responsibility for cultural change” (Faculty ELSJ Resources) as outlined in the learning goals of the ELSJ core requirement. The name, Experiential Learning for Social Justice, tells us exactly what the class is for: it is meant to teach students why social justice is important and how to pursue it in their daily lives through experiences with the community. These are the values that Santa Clara University endeavors to impart, in a lasting way, to their students through the ELSJ core requirement. We began to wonder, however, is one course truly enough to cultivate a self-motivated desire to contribute to the common good and fulfill the holistic educational objectives of Santa Clara University? Considering this problem led us to our research question: Does SCU's ELSJ core requirement fulfill its stated learning goals and objectives?

We came to this question after many readings, class discussions and informal dialogues with our peers about college culture. We noticed that rarely, if at all, was there discussion about a culture of service to the local or global community that is supposedly a central characteristic of Jesuit universities. Curious about our school specifically, we decided to investigate the University’s approach to cultivating a culture of service which leads us to the ELSJ core requirement. According to the University’s Learning Goals and Objectives for the ELSJ program, the class is successful if, afterwards, students can do the following:

“1.1 Recognize the benefits of life-long responsible citizenship and civic engagement in personal and professional activities. (Civic Life)

1.2 Interact appropriately, sensitively, and self-critically with people in the communities in which they work and appreciate the formal and informal knowledge, wisdom, and skills that individuals in these communities possess. (Perspective)

1.3 Recognize, analyze, and understand the social reality and injustices in contemporary society, including recognizing the relative privilege or marginalization of their own and other groups. (Social Justice)

1.4 Make vocational choices in light of both their greatest gifts and the world's greatest needs. (Civic Engagement)” (Core Curriculum).

Although these deliverables can be used as more specific criteria, it is, obviously, quite difficult to quantify and measure many of the intangible goals of the ELSJ core requirement. The ELSJ program is not alone in its struggle with data as many educational partners and charitable organizations strive to quantify the true significance of their work.

This is why “The Effect of Study Abroad on Intercultural Competence Among Undergraduate College Students” by Mark H. Salisbury, Brian P. An, and Ernest T. Pascarella set out to measure similarly intangible goals of study abroad programs. Their research on the effect of study abroad on intercultural competence proved to us that it was in fact possible to conduct research of the nature we are proposing.

Hoping to add to this growing body of research in the field of value analysis we made a number of interesting discoveries. Our data reveals trends that clearly suggest a failure to meet learning objectives as demonstrated by student behavior. There is actually a concerning decline in several key areas of educational engagement with the application of the ELSJ core requirement. While designed with the best intentions, as of right now, a study of student behavior suggests that the program is not quite reaching the stated learning goals and objectives. Granted, the current set of goals is a bold undertaking and it is important to appreciate just how difficult it is to transform students. Our research was designed to see how well our school is doing in this quest for change. Because the data indicates negative results, we have researched and prepared several possible solutions to improve the effectiveness of our important ELSJ core requirement.

Based on our findings and educated advice, we believe that the administration of Santa Clara University, particularly Dr. Brewster and her team in charge if the curriculum for the program will be interested in our results. We think that many other administrators at other Jesuit institutions will be interested as well because we do not think these lackluster results are exclusive to Santa Clara University. In fact, we are convinced that Santa Clara University and ELSJ curriculum developers are not entirely to blame. Until now, there have been very limited methods for evaluating character development which is why we set out to change the status quo and develop the tools that will best equip our school, and all Jesuit institutions to transform current students in powerful and measurable ways.

If they are willing to consider our methods, we believe that other Jesuit schools might begin to evaluate whether or not they are succeeding in their attempt to deliver a transformative Jesuit education, evident through student behavior. We also think parents and students will be interested in our findings as they search for the best fit and greatest value in higher education.