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Topics:
Youth
The
Public Purpose of 4-H:
Engaging Youth in Civic Contribution
Gregory
K. Hutchins
Assistant Dean & State Program Leader, 4-H Youth Development
University of Wisconsin-Extension
1997
4-H programs
are intended to develop young people, but for what purpose? The
concept of "youth development," disconnected from any larger context,
is meaningless to many people. The 4-H emphasis on personal development,
reflected in ambiguous terms like "life skills," provides little
sense of public value or special purpose. While the personal growth
that may result from 4-H participation continues to be important,
the program must become more clearly focused on its public contribution.
In an era of increasing competition for public dollars and looming
public problems, the present conceptual framework has become stagnant.
It is time for Cooperative Extension to reconceptualize its vision
for 4-H and to better articulate its value to society.
4-H needs
a clear and concise vision that all staff and volunteers can understand,
implement, and discuss with the public. A more precise language
that is free from jargon and clearly communicates the program's
goals and expectations is also needed. Words like "youth development"
or "life skills" are not tangible enough for most elected officials
when hard choices have to be made about resources, and they offer
4-H volunteers little guidance as they try to implement the program.
4-H must become reconnected to a larger public purpose, in simple
yet meaningful terms.
The
Public Need
Americans are
surrounded by a profusion of public institutions. From public schools
to Social Security checks, young and old alike are touched by the
concept of "public." Yet how many people actively participate in
"public life," beyond the role of client? In today's consumer-oriented
society, it is a narrow self-interest rather than a broad public
interest that seems to guide most Americans.
While few
would say this environment places our democracy at risk some are
beginning to point out how this lack of civic engagement is eroding
our quality of life and how it may be a source of more serious
problems in the future. Michael Sandel, Professor of Government
at Harvard University, talks of two fears that he calls the "anxiety
of the age." These fears are for the loss of self-government and
the erosion of community. Fifty years ago it was common for citizens
to deliberate about the common good and help to shape the destiny
of their community. Today there are too few spending time in such
"public" activity. Most Americans are content to be passive observers,
or worse yet, they disengage completely from community affairs.
Robert Putnam,
another Harvard professor, has quantified this civic disengagement.
He has documented a 25-30 year decline in membership in civic
oriented organizations, during a time when self-help and personal
support groups have grown dramatically. He notes that since 1973,
the number of Americans who report that in the past year they
have attended a public meeting on town or school affairs has fallen
by more than a third. Putnam argues that there is an urgent need
to rebuild the social capital of our communities. He cites the
county extension agent system as one "past initiative" that encouraged
that development.
The problem
today, according to Harry Boyte and Nancy Kari, co-authors of
Building America: The Democratic Promise of Public Work,
is that people have learned to expect to get things from government
and to demand that experts fix things. What's needed is for people
to see themselves as productive, with ideas and resources; as
people who can solve problems, build things, do things. Boyte
and Kari contend that there are few places today where people
can develop these capacities of citizenship.
The
4-H Response
Within this
context, there is need for a youth program that emphasizes public
responsibility, engages youth in improving our common well-being,
and models organized and coordinated group involvement in community
life. A youth program that teaches and practices these elements
of democracy will have recognizable value.
Herein lies
the opportunity for 4-H. 4-H needs to reclaim its identity as
a youth citizenship program. Cooperative Extension should emphasize
the 4-H program's role in supporting democracy through engaging
youth in civic contribution. Skill development and knowledge transfer
have an important place in this context, but these elements of
the program need to be seen in support of the larger public purpose.
4-Hers have
been making public contributions for decades, but this dimension
of the program has been overlooked and undervalued. The 4-H community
became so enamored with individual development and personal achievement
that it lost sight of the public responsibility found in the 4-H
pledge.
The 4-H
pledge provides the basic foundation for this vision of civic
involvement. It offers a simple promise to contribute to the common
good. It's not about individual accomplishment or even family
- the entire pledge is about service to the public, "I pledge
my. . . for my club, my community, my country, and my world."
This understanding of public responsibility has been forgotten,
but the pledge provides a place to begin reclaiming this tradition
and value. It can become a symbol of the 4-H commitment to the
participation of young people in the larger public world outside
their families.
Reframing
the work of 4-H in the context of youth citizenship and democracy
provides a larger purpose for youth development. It is a simple
concept, that 4-14 is about building skills in youth and then
involving youth in using those skills for the common good. The
focus is on moving young people from private consumers to public
contributors. 4-H encourages productivity and problem-solving,
the citizenship capacities that Boyte suggests are absent in today's
world. 4-H now needs to take the next step, and place those qualities
within the framework of public contribution.
Practical
Consequences
An honest commitment
to this vision would require a shift in emphasis for the 4-H program.
Personal development and individual achievement would no longer
be the defining characteristics of 4-H. While these dimensions of
the program would not disappear, the clover would become emblematic
of united community youth contribution. Skill development and knowledge
transfer would continue, but with greater attention to the skills
and knowledge that are essential to "public" life, what Lappe and
Du Bois call the democratic arts. 4-H would act more intentionally
as an active vehicle for youth participation and contribution in
the larger public arena. Cooperative Extension would become a champion
for youth as critical actors in community problem solving.
Youth would
develop an understanding of how to work in public environments
that are diverse, open, and often contentious. They would learn
to negotiate differences and find agreement, communicate effectively
about controversial issues, and develop a sense of political efficacy.
Programs would engage youth in examining how their personal interests
could link to public change.
Renewed
attention would be placed on community service, or public work.
The emphasis would be on youth as producers and problem solvers,
rather than "servants" or service-providers. The connection of
their contributions to larger public issues would be made explicit.
Community service would not be conducted as simply "good deeds,"
but would link to lessons about the effect of larger public decisions.
The 4-H
club and other 4H groups would place their primary focus on the
practice of democratic skills. Clubs/groups would move beyond
being an affiliation of members whose principle 4H involvement
is the pursuit of individual achievement or personal development.
4-H clubs/groups would become democratic bodies where youth could
experience democracy firsthand; where youth would experience the
challenges of group decision-making and the power of collective
actions. To achieve this requires an environment that encourages
group discussion and debate about items that have meaning to the
members, with adult guidance and leadership that supports rather
than prescribes. While these democratic ideals have undergirded
4-H practice for decades, few clubs/groups achieve these standards.
Only large-scale redirection of 4-H programs will deliver broad-based
attention to these principles.
Conclusion
Michael Sandel
says we need a knowledge of public affairs, a sense of belonging,
and a concern for the whole. Harry Boyte and Nancy Kari say we need
people engaged in "public work," involved in building and sustaining
our common existence. Robert Putnam says we need increased "social
connectedness." 4-H has the potential to respond to these needs,
but it will require a deliberate shift in perspective, language,
and programming. If 4-H can link itself to these larger public purposes,
if it can demonstrate its capacity to teach the democratic arts,
and if it can ultimately broaden the role of young people in public
life, then there is great promise for a new vitality. Without such
linkage and engagement, 4-H will miss a grand opportunity, and risks
a future of increased obscurity.
References
Boyte, Harry
C. & Nancy N. Kari. (1996) Building America: The Democratic
Promise of Public Work. Philadelphia: Temple University
Press.
Lappe, Frances
M. & Paul M. Du Bois. (1994). The Quickening of America.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Putnam,
Robert D. (1995, January) "Bowling Alone: America's Declining
Social Capital," Journal of Democracy>, 6 (1), 65-78.
Sandel,
Michael J. (1996) Democracy's Discontent: America in Search
of a Public Philosophy. Cambridge: Belknap Press.
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