Jesse Van Doren, a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote a provocative opinion piece in the September 29 issue of The Daily Pennsylvanian, arguing that Penn students are less likely than their prestigious university peers to pursue lives that combine financial success with meaningful lives.

He writes, “Any way you cut it, Penn graduates have steered clear of lives defined by continued learning, the creation of knowledge, and service to humanity.” He cites lower percentages of Penn students awarded public service oriented Rhodes scholarships, lower percentages pursuing advanced degrees, and fewer Nobel Prizes. Although Van Doren admits that these days we may not immediately associate the U.S. Congress with public service, he identifies only two members with Penn undergraduate degrees, compared to 12 from Georgetown, 14 from Stanford, and 17 from Harvard.

I’m not entirely convinced by Van Doren’s singling out of Penn. He reflects his own personal experience in feeling insufficient encouragement for his own search for meaning. He then assumes the grass is greener on other university quads.

But the problem may be more widespread than he indicates. I am concerned that many young people today are insufficiently encouraged to plan for a meaningful future. College should be a time for thinking through personal values and then finding a pathway that fulfills those values. (Yes, I’m one of those who thinks that college is for everyone, including those talented in working with their hands and interested in technical fields.)

Student loneliness

Many friends have consulted me as their children or grandchildren apply for college. This fall I’ve heard an almost universal concern. Will my kid be lonely? Will the college provide resources for building community? These concerns are verified by social science research. This year the American Journal of Health Education published Helping Students Make Meaningful Connections: A Cross-Sectional Survey of College Student Loneliness.

The researchers verify an increased sense of loneliness across college campuses and discuss ways to address the problem. I want to focus on one recommendation — that colleges “organize activities to explore the city/community.”

Most public servants chose their careers with a sense of integrity, moral clarity, and generosity — values that are sorely needed right now.

In this era when smartphones become barriers to personal, live interactions, one remedy is community service. At Penn, for example, the Netter Center for Community Partnerships offers many opportunities to bond with fellow students for academically based community service and for assisting community schools. Penn students can, for example, become Robeson High School Writing Center Coaches. These Penn students are more than tutors. They collaborate with Robeson high schoolers on marketing the Writing Center to their classmates. The Slam Poetry Club encourages writing original poetry and sharing it with the community.

It’s hard to imagine that the Robeson coaches — or the students being coached — are lonely. Some are acquiring experience for teaching careers. But all, no matter the career path, are finding ways to make meaning through connection and service to others. (Jesse Van Doren, if you are reading this, make a visit to the Netter Center.)

Contemplate careers where you can do well — and do good

A career is more than a job. Etymologically, the word “career” means life path. While it’s essential to put food on the table, pay bills, and support one’s family, it’s important to do so through satisfying work. A good life depends on developing values and working and living to fulfill those values.

Jonathan Alter reports in the Washington Monthly on a recent bipartisan meeting convened by the Carnegie Corporation “to explore how to move national service from ‘nice’ to ‘necessary.’”

Alter writes that in the last three decades, 1.4 million Americans served in AmeriCorps. When Pres. Trump tried to defund it this year, many state and local Republicans joined Democrats to save the program. PHENND (the Philadelphia Higher Education Network) had its funding restored. We don’t know what will happen to this funding moving forward, and we should keep our eye on it.

Nonetheless, career public service in its many forms has been painfully undermined in the last several months. Loan forgiveness for teachers has been threatened if the system they work for promotes diversity. (On the other hand, ICE agents get full loan forgiveness and a $50,000 signing bonus.) Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demeans the public service of women in the military. Thousands of civil servants are capriciously fired and furloughed. These actions communicate the lack of practicality in attempting to do well by doing good.

Making public service unattractive is a lose-lose situation. People lose opportunities to pursue careers that serve the public good. Society loses workers dedicated to making life better. And, as Alter suggests, the nation loses the best means to “de-polarize America.” He quotes Jonathan Reckford, who runs Habitat for Humanity, who says, “When people work together, they focus on shared values and create the space for conversation.”

During my years as a university president, I concluded every Commencement address by saying to the graduates, “Make us proud. Make us better. Make a difference.”

Teachers, nurses, social workers, civil service workers, and first responders know that they are making a difference — and making us better, even though they have selected professions that pay far less than what is earned by investment bankers. I’ve written before that college loan forgiveness for public servants is an essential way for the nation to say thank you.

There are other things we can do, large and small. The Phillies hold an annual Teacher Appreciation Night at a home game and recognize 10 “All-Star Teachers.” The Philadelphia Citizen honors public servants each year with our Integrity Icon Awards. In addition to these visible and formal rewards, it’s also important to say thank you and to follow up with written messages when a city employee helps solve a problem, when a nurse shows compassion, when a teacher recognizes a student’s hidden talent.

We also have to question and oppose the inaccurate and undocumented accusations of fraud, waste and abuse. Most public servants chose their careers with a sense of integrity, moral clarity, and generosity — values that are sorely needed right now. And these values have another benefit. They dispel anxiety and loneliness.

What we can do

• Encourage young people to think about the future and to give time and attention to developing values and finding a lifestyle that fits those values.
• Support funding for AmeriCorps.
• Support student loan forgiveness for public service, without partisan strings attached.
• Support colleges and universities that provide public service opportunities.
• Protest the demeaning of women in the military.

Elaine Maimon, Ph.D., is the author of Leading Academic Change: Vision, Strategy, Transformation. Her long career in higher education has encompassed top executive positions at public universities as well as distinction as a scholar in rhetoric/composition. Her co-authored book, Writing in the Arts and Sciences, has been designated as a landmark text. She is a Distinguished Fellow of the Association for Writing Across the Curriculum.

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