Writing for Community Change

ELISA STONE

Modified by Amy Minervini and Jennifer Anderson.

Research shows that what makes people truly happy tends to involve working toward a cause outside of their own immediate needs and wants: in other words, service to others actually improves your own well-being (Hopper, 2020).

What does this mean in a college setting? Ernest Boyer, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and former U.S. Commissioner of Education, tells us that “the academy must become a more vigorous partner in the search for answers to our most pressing social, civic, economic, and moral problems, and must reaffirm its historic commitment to what I call the scholarship of engagement.” He says that colleges and universities must be staging grounds for action if we are to provide in-depth learning for students and meaningful change in improving the world around us.

What does this have to do with writing? Or you?  Colleges have a history of combining service and learning in ways that allow students to gain hands-on experience, write for audiences outside of their classrooms, and change the way they see their role in the communities around them. Many professors will support the idea that students can use college writing assignments to create texts that will help communities change for the better.

WHAT ABOUT THE SCIENCES? ISN’T THIS JUST FOR HUMANITIES?

It’s all good, students say, but that’s for you Humanities types. I’m in the sciences! I plan to study chemistry, or math, or engineering, so writing for community change doesn’t really apply to my field or my future. Hold up . . . it does! Issues of social justice have become an integral part of curriculum in many disciplines. For example, social justice is important to strong, ethical science in the real world. The kind of communication and writing you’ll do in a composition course is a required skill for science and engineering. This approach to learning comes not only from concern for the well-being of society; it also comes in order to deliver skills and knowledge base to students for hire-ability and for successful post-graduate education. Students of disciplines that are traditionally associated with issues of peace and justice such as political science, communication, and social work will most certainly benefit from service-based writing. Yet a student of any discipline can stand to benefit from this opportunity.

In 2015, the Association of American Medical Colleges unveiled the new MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) which all prospective medical students must complete to apply to medical school (AAMC, 2015). The largest change in the new test was as much as a quarter of the test now includes content involving social and psychological principles. These can be seen in the test’s “Foundational Concepts” 6–10. Concerning issues of social justice, examples are seen in Foundational Concept 9, “Cultural and social differences influence well-being” and Foundational Concept 10, “Social stratification and access to resources influence well-being” (AAMC, 2015). The purpose of incorporating these concepts into the required curricula of all pre-med students is to ensure that the next generation of medical doctors have social and cultural understanding around issues of socioeconomic status, race, religion, gender, and other social justice issues.

While it is generally recommended that students take at least one introductory psychology and introductory sociology course in order to learn this, many students are likely to wish to engage in the material at a deeper level. This is not a new phenomenon in the medical disciplines, as shown by programs like Doctors Without Borders who have incorporated social justice into their mission already in their humanitarian causes (“Neglected People,” 2015). Students who intend to take an educational path in health care come to it through many undergraduate majors including biology, psychology, chemistry, nursing, etc. Service-based writing would be applicable and desirable to students intending on a career in health care from a variety of majors.

The field of psychology has always had a social justice component, although it was not always in the forefront of the field. But now, the APA (American Psychological Association) and APS (Association for Psychological Science) have charged the field to advocate for research and application of social justice issues in the field as a whole (Vasquez, 2012; Meyers, 2007). Salt Lake Community College offers an Associates in psychology and we know that many more General Studies students will go on to complete a bachelor’s degree in psychology or higher, as it is one of the largest undergraduate majors in the United States (Casselman, 2014). Psychology classes interested in community service can, for example, take on nutritional choices of students, conducting a literature review, ethnographic research, and nutritional data, then create a social media campaign to help individuals make informed, healthy choices in campus dining areas. The same type of project could be undertaken in a K–12 educational environment, perhaps with the goal of educating parents as well.

Natural and cultural resource management and outdoor recreation is a predominant area of employment in Utah and the American West (see USAJOBS.gov for a clearinghouse of all federal job opportunities). Occupations vary from rangers working within our national parks to field biologists to agriculture. Many of our students hope to—and will— find themselves in these types of fields. Within the needs of resource management includes the human factor. And these disciplines have been incorporating the cultural, economic, and social needs of people into their management plans. What they need are more people trained in social justice awareness and in the human component or resource management. For one example of social justice conflict in park management, see Al Jazeera America’s article on displacement of indigenous people in the name of conservation (Lewis, 2015, August 14). Students interested in writing for community change could join with non-profit organizations writing  grants or litigate cases aimed at restorative justice for indigenous peoples. These issues are ongoing.

WRITING FOR COMMUNITY CHANGE IS FOR YOU!

Writing for community change via the composition classroom, a service-learning experience, or even an internship would be applicable and navigable by any student in the sciences or social sciences who wishes to dive deeper into their learning of these issues within the standard curricula of their fields. These fields are specifically asking for the traits and skills in the next generation of graduates and employees that we hope to create at our instititutions.

Hey, not everyone loves English classes or writing; we get that. Sometimes even professional writers get frustrated writing, too! But since we all need writing for classes, everyday life, and career success, why not make it count for community change as well?  We hope you can experience the satisfaction of knowing you can make a difference through your writing and advocacy.

References

Ahuna ‘Ohana (Photographer). (2016, July 18). Ahuna ‘Ohana [digital image]. Retrieved from www.facebook.com/pages/category/Nonprofit-Organization/Ahuna-Ohana-146953438695573/

Association of American Colleges & Universities. (2015). Falling short? College learning and career success selected findings from online surveys of employers and college students. Hart Research Associates.

Association of American Medical Colleges (2015). What’s on the MCAT2015 exam? Retrieved from www.aamc.org/students/services/343550/mcat2015.html#psbb on Sept 1st, 2015

Boyer, E. (1996). The Scholarship of Engagement. Journal of Public Service & Outreach, 1(1) 11–21.

Casselman, B. (2014, Sept 12th). The economic guide to picking a major. FiveThirtyEight Retrieved from fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-economic-guide-to-picking-a-college-major/ on Sept. 1st, 2015.

Community Learning Partnership. (2013). Listening—building—making change: job profile of a community organizer.

Doctors Without Borders (2015). Neglected people. Retrieved from www.doctorswithoutborders.org/our-work/humanitarian-issues/neglected-people on Sept 1st, 2015.

Hopper, E. (2020, July 3). How Volunteering Can Help Your Mental Health. Greater Good Magazine. greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_volunteering_can_help_your_mental_health

Lewis, R. (2015, August 14th). “Violent displacement’ in the name of conservation must end,” group says. Al Jazeera America. Retreived from america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/8/14/american-conservation-hurts-biodiversity-natives.html on Sept 1st, 2015.

Miller, E. (Photographer). (2016). Untitled [photograph]. Cape Town, South Africa.

Miller, E. (Photographer). (2016). Untitled [photograph]. Cape Town, South Africa.

Myers, S.A. (2007). Putting social justice in practice in psychology courses. Observer, 20(9) Retrieved from www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/2007/october-07/putting-social-justice-into-practice-in-psychology-courses.html on Sept 1st, 2015

Stone, E. (Photographer). (2016). Freedom Fighter, Robben Island Former Prison [photograph]. Cape Town, South Africa.

Stone, E. (Photographer). (2010). SLCC Alternative Spring Break Volunteers, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary [photograph]. Kanab, Utah.

Vasquez, M.J.T. (2012). Psychology and social justice: Why we do what we do. American Psychologist, 67(5) 337–46. Wood, R. (Photographer). (2016). Group Photo in Cape Town, Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation [photograph]. Cape Town, South Africa.

Wood, R. (Photographer). (2016). Group Photo in Cape Town, Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation [photograph]. Cape Town, South Africa.

Wood, R. (2016). Love. [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Y1Uia7bNOZg

Wood, R. (Photographer). (2016). PR Campaign, Desmond Tutu Youth Centre [photograph]. Cape Town, South Africa.