The efforts of the University's new civic engagement initiative, DukeEngage, to help "students apply what they have learned in the classroom to address societal issues at home or abroad" represents a U-turn from the belief held in certain corners of U.S. higher education that "real-world" experience, while valuable and enriching, should sit beyond the realm of a university's mission.
Historically, students have been expected, in their spare-non-academic-time to match their classroom experience to complementary internships, job shadowing and volunteerism opportunities. The fact that Duke has dedicated funding and faculty support to extend impressive service experiences to undergraduates is an unprecedented, revolutionary step to changing the conceptualization of what constitutes a higher education.
Or course, DukeEngage or any such program at any college or university will not likely be successful in carrying out such a goal unless faculty and departments inject the university's academic mission into the program. If we at Duke are truly challenging our students to tackle "real-world problems," then we are morally obligated not only to educate them about those problems in the classroom, but to think creatively about developing real-world programs that connect classroom theories with the realities of the world.
Indeed, DukeEngage's ideals of addressing societal issues and tackling real-world problems are complex, which is why faculty members have from the outset been invited to develop group programs and/or mentor students to establish individual projects that merge a passion for civic engagement with a broader understanding of one or more disciplines.
Last summer's pilot program in Yemen, for example, affirmed the need for a collaborative and creative effort on the part of faculty in order to put the classroom experience in a real-world context. Spearheaded by the Duke Islamic Studies Center and the Arabic language program in the Department of Asian and African Languages and Literature, DISC found in DukeEngage a platform through which students can extend their outreach to Muslim societies of the Middle East and be emissaries of mutual understanding between the United States and the Muslim world.
As Duke's Arabic program recognizes the need to produce students who are efficient and effective in their understanding of and communication with the Arab world, it also finds in DukeEngage a great opportunity to put these classroom tasks into a real-life context.
Yemen was selected to host this pilot program for a singular reason. Considered the fastest growing democracy in the Arab world, the nation embodies the challenges that face developing countries as they engage in democratization through political and economic reforms. Yemen is a country in which the types of major problems that commonly afflict societies in transition are present. It is moving from a post-civil war era, it is reforming an educational system permeated with extremism and it is also struggling to reconcile the culture of tribalism with the needs of civil society.
All of these qualities make Yemen an ideal place for DukeEngage's mission of addressing societal issues abroad. At the beginning of the eight-week program, DISC worked with staff at the Yemen College of Middle East Studies in Sana'a with the purpose of evaluating three NGOs: the Democracy School, the National Democratic Institute and the Arab Sisters Forum. DISC matched Duke students' interests and skills with these NGOs. Since Arabic is the primary language spoken in these NGOs, and because the success of the experience with them depended on students' ability to speak Arabic, the language of all societal groups in Yemen, the program included a significant amount of language instruction and cultural activities, which were organized daily at YCMES.
Most importantly, students were able to assess classroom theories on the importance of civic engagement, NGO roles in promoting good governance, educational reform as a key to development and tribalism as the antithesis of an emerging civil society. Students also were able to relate these assumptions to international groups and across regional dimensions.
Furthermore, the commitment of the organizers, especially DISC and AALL, made it possible for the students to develop individual proposals and work on implementing them. It was a gratifying experience to see Duke freshmen and sophomores develop proposals and follow up on their implementation on issues related to improving children's rights, enhancing women's societal capacities and illustrating the need for transparency in the justice system.
Undoubtedly, the DukeEngage pilot program in Yemen provided one blueprint for the great possibilities and successes that can be achieved from collaborative efforts within our academic community. Indeed, the Yemen program will be offered again this summer. Our undergraduates have the desire and ability to apply what they have learned in the classroom to the place for which it is intended-the real world. But the means of reaching these goals demands meaningful attention from Duke's faculty, programs and departments, who are in a position to provide a truly remarkable context in which to explore the tenets of civic engagement.
Mbaye Lo is an instructor with the Duke Islamic Studies Center.
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