The Wonder That Is Public Affairs"Public Affairs means... We should be good neighbors and vote for city council." - Me
When asked what the Public Affairs Mission is, or what it means, I usually pull something out of thin air that makes at least partial sense, such as the above statement. However since this is an actual assignment I figured I should probably actually see what I could find about Public Affairs on our wonderful website. Just so you know, the "Public Affairs Website" does not explain what public affairs is, but it does tell you all about the people who got the P.A. Scholarship, in case you want to stalk them. Luckily the website *does* provide you with a link it calls "Definition." Interestingly enough, there is no definition. There *is* a goal though, and that is close enough for my purposes. Apparently, the Public Affairs mission is "to produce citizens of enhanced character, more sensitive to the needs of community, more competent and committed in their ability to contribute to society, and more civil in their habits of thought, speech and action." So, basically, I think I was right in the first place... good neighbors and city council. That sentence is not 500 words long though, so I suppose I shall delve more deeply into the mission by looking at the "objectives" of this grand old mission.
Here are the main objectives of the Public Affairs Mission as laid out by the powers that be:
· Develop an increasing awareness of the public dimension of life.
· Produce a broad literacy in the primary public issues.
· Establish a campus environment where the awareness of public questions is nurtured and their discussion is encouraged.
· Create the capacity for and the interest in doing voluntary public work.
· Provide community service learning opportunities as a significant component of disciplinary instruction
I am a 5th year senior. This college considers most degree programs to be "4-year.” This means students complete their degrees in 4 years and that would be the time the university has to implement the above objectives in any given student. Therefore, for all intents and purposes I should be/have seen all the things that list says, minus the effect this wonderful class will have on my P.A. outlook. So let us look at my response to each of these objectives.
"Develop an increasing awareness of the public dimension of life"- The public dimension of life? Wait you mean my life isn't a lot of me's talking to, meeting up with, and hanging out with other me's? You mean other people exist? I guess I sure did learn that in college! Glad I didn't graduate without knowing that.
"Produce a broad literacy in the primary public issues"- Ok, so by "public issues" do they mean local politics? Because if so, then I have to say I do not care. Now things more universal than the building codes for the city of Springfield, ok. However, while I do have more literacy, I have to say that most of the time I still do not know what I think about it... there are so many different angles! So I'm not sure if I pass or fail on this one. Chalk one up to vagueness.
"Establish a campus environment where the awareness of public questions is nurtured and their discussion is encouraged."- Sure? They have a lot of people come and talk, and my Political Science friends go listen sometimes. We also have a free speech area on the bear paw.
"Create the capacity for and the interest in doing voluntary public work."- Ok, Missouri State didn't instill this in me at all. This was instilled in me much younger and much more actively before I was in college at all. I have been in community theatre since the third grade, and if you say that community theater is not "voluntary public work," I may bite you.
"Provide community service learning opportunities as a significant component of disciplinary instruction"- I was in school for 4 years and never heard about this. This semester, though, I'm taking a class and a lady came in a told us about 'service learning." I'll tell you how it goes, the student pays money for credit hours to do volunteer work, and then does extra school work relating to the volunteer work, and the credit hours transfer over as electives and one can only use up to 4 hours of this project. One person in my class of 30 is going to do it. I don't really know what the "disciplinary instruction" is though, maybe it is just for people who are bad.
So have I lived through the P.A.M. and come out as a model student? Well... no. I mean I cannot really figure out what I would have done differently without the mission, for that matter I can barely figure out what the mission *is* and I looked it up! I think the whole thing is a big scheme to make Missouri Universities look good and we just took the idea and ran with it. So here's to the Public Affairs Mission... I myself think I will just be a good neighbor and vote for city council. | 