Mentoring young adults in the development of social responsibility

Abstract

1 A NEW GENERATION OF YOUNG ADULTS Much has been written about the characteristics of Generation X and the Millennials, but at this point, they have been out of college for more than 10 years. In this paper, university students under the age of 25 are referred to as quarterlifers, because they are in the first quarter of their lives. In Helping College Students Find Purpose, Nash & Murray (2010) described the quarterlife period as a tumultuous time for most students because it triggers overwhelming anxieties about the past, present, and future. Many quarterlife students are plagued with worry about failure, for example, living up to others' expectations, letting go of the comfortable securities of childhood, coming to terms with the growing tension between freedom and responsibility, and constantly comparing themselves to their peers and coming up short (Robbins, 2004). Some quarterlifers, especially those in the United States, openly admit that they just do not want to grow up, and what they dread most is the need to return home to live with their parents after they graduate from college. 1.1 Purpose and meaning for young adults At the same time, quarterlifers look at their time in college as an opportunity to find purpose and meaning in their lives and to pursue their dreams. According to Nash & Murray (2010), purpose has to do with pursuing certain goals, reaching resolutions, seeking results, and realising particular objectives and ends in those worlds. Meaning, on the other hand, has to do with how we understand our lives on an ongoing basis. Meaning is about interpretations, rationales, perspectives, and belief systems that we bring to the various worlds in which we live and work. Meaning involves the search for a sense of connection and significance. What makes purposes worthwhile or justifiable to quarterlifers depends on those meanings that they attach to them and that drive their behaviours. Nash & Murray (2010) believe that too often in higher education, we insist that students achieve a whole host of academic and career purposes without first helping them to formulate systems of meaning to inform these purposes. Without developing sound and enduring whys, students often find their well-intended hows to be short-lived and directionless. In the long run, it is the whys that will help students experience the genuine satisfactions of making a difference in the lives of others. 1.2 Visions and dreams of young adults The quarterlife years is also a time of discovering and following dreams. In Big Questions, Worthy Dreams, Parks (2000) addressed the question of purpose and meaning for young adults. She believes that the Dream, with a capital D, has a quality of vision, that is, it is an imagined possibility that orients meaning, purpose, and aspiration. The formation of a worthy Dream is a critical task for young adults, and in its fullest sense, is a sense of vocation. Vocation conveys calling and meaningful purpose, in which young adults recognise that what they do with their time, talents, and treasure is most meaningfully conceived not as a matter of mere personal passion or preference but in relationship to the whole of life (Parks, 2000). They look to those who are beyond the quarterlife years for inspiration and guidance. 1.3 Enhancing the inner lives of young adults Researchers at the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at the University of California at Los Angeles conducted a seven-year study of university students to examine the role that college plays in facilitating the development of students' inner lives, including their search for meaning and the pursuit of their dreams. Astin et al (2010) organised the findings around 10 spiritual and religious measures. Two of these measures are relevant to the development of social responsibility in young adults: spiritual quest and ethic of caring. 1.3.1 Spiritual Quest In the HERI study, Spiritual Quest reflects the degree to which the student is actively searching for meaning and purpose in life, to become a more self-aware and enlightened person, and to find answers to life's big questions. …