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The Quest for Meaning: Teaching Spirituality in Communication, Social Work, Nursing, and Leadership

Sociologists report that the profile of the American college student has shifted1 . Unlike their parents, undergraduates enroll in classes more to get a job than to get an education. Learning is not so much an opportunity as it is a commodity. A media-saturated upbringing has germinated in them short attention spans and short-term event horizons. Transcendent commitment among them is rare. After college they are more likely to get a job than launch a career, find a “friend with benefits” rather than commit to a permanent relationship, and move back in with mom and dad rather than put down roots of their own. Another profile emerges, however, that may contradict this narcissistic and materialistic facade. According to the results of the 2005 of College Students and Beliefs and Values2 , over half of all college students are engaged in a quest for authenticity and desire to grow spiritually. Three quarters say they are “searching for meaning/purpose in life.” The same number says that they frequently engage in discussions about the meaning of life with their friends and self-report a high engagement in religious or spiritual activities. As educators—particularly those of us who teach in public and non-sectarian universities—we cannot avoid the issues of spirituality that paradoxically lie at the heart of this materialistic and narcissistic generation. We must ask the question, how can we effectively address our students’ quest for meaning? How can we mentor students not only intellectually but spiritually? This essay represents the combined perspectives of four undergraduate instructors of a public university on the issue of addressing spirituality in the classroom. We not only represent a variety of faith traditions but also a diversity of disciplines within the social sciences—communication studies, social work, nursing, and leadership training. In the first part of this essay, focus on what unites us: a conceptual understanding of spirituality in an instructional context. In the second, we reflect on how spirituality can be