Deficit or Deluge?
Princeton recently announced plans to send a tenth or more of its incoming students abroad to do social service for a year, before they enter as freshmen (Princeton Plans for an Early Year Abroad).
While much of the nonprofit sector is worried about a looming leadership crisis (see Bridespan’s seminal report The Nonprofit Sector’s Leadership Deficit, and the Casey Foundation’s Next Shift), anecdotally I sense that NGOs working on international poverty are being inundated with energetic, smart students and recent graduates eager to work overseas. The problem with the pipeline for international organizations does not seem to be attracting the young talent, but developing the skills and experience that will make them effective in facilitating community development in remote and culturally diverse areas, a complicated undertaking.
Details were scant about where students will be placed and to what extent their experiences would be linked to their subsequent studies, but I suspect that an NGO or two will be consulted or involved in structuring this service abroad. If the service is intentionally integrated with Princeton’s curriculum and resources to help develop new leaders prepared for the difficulties of international development, it could be a boon indeed. Otherwise, what might be good for students could end up having questionable value for the communities being served and the sector.
Tags: Casey Foundation, early year abroad, international poverty, Leadership, Princeton, social service, students
June 8th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
On a recent visit to DC at the Internaitonal Conference for Study Abroad Advisors (NAFSA) I found many third party providers for Servicie Learning Abroad. In chats with other NAFSA members and long time participants on the study abroad programs, like Arcadia University and NYU, they mentioned that this way of learning and contributing to other community outside of the USA will be the future way of creating the leaders you talk about on your post.
Most of this programs and univerisities work with local univeristies and NGOs that organize and know the communities. I believe this is the real asset on this programs, the “local knowledge”. At UPAEP we have been doing this for more than 10 years and we know that the impact of living on an immigrant commuity for only two weeks has changed the perception of many American students about immigration and immigrants.
If programs like the Princeton will be organized they need to tink about giving real life expiriences to the students and forgtting the Amercian way of everything should look like USA.