Cultivating the Spirit: How College Can Enhance Students' Inner Lives [Hardcover]

Alexander W. Astin (Author), Helen S. Astin (Author), Jennifer A. Lindholm (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 16, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0470769335 | ISBN-13: 978-0470769331 | Edition: 1

This book is predicated on the belief that the spiritual development of college students has been largely ignored in our colleges and universities, despite the importance of spiritual matters to young people in their quest to lead integrated lives. Thus, while academics are understandably proud of their "outer" accomplishments in the fields of science, medicine, technology, and commerce, colleges and universities have increasingly come to neglect the student's "inner" development--the sphere of values and beliefs, emotional maturity, spirituality, and self-understanding.

The book defines "spiritual development" very broadly: how students make meaning of their education and their lives, how they develop a sense of purpose, the value and belief dilemmas that they experience, as well as the role of religion, the sacred, and the mystical in their lives. Each student, of course, will view his or her spirituality in a unique way. For many, traditional religious beliefs and practices may form the core of their spirituality; for others such beliefs and practices may play little or no part. While two-thirds of the students in the study express a strong interest in spiritual matters, well over half report that their professors never encourage discussions of religious/spiritual matters, and about the same proportion report that professors never provide opportunities to discuss the purpose and meaning of life.

By raising public awareness of the important role that spirituality plays in student learning and development, by alerting academic administrators, faculty, and curriculum committees to the importance of spiritual development, and by identifying possible strategies for enhancing that development, the book will encourage institutions to give greater priority to these spiritual aspects of students’ educational and personal development.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A groundbreaking study of the spiritual growth of college students.... The spiritual dimension of higher education has been explored from a variety of angles for the past twenty years, but not until now have we had a competent and comprehensive body of data organized around well-defined dimensions of this complex phenomenon. This is an essential book for anyone in academia who cares about the education of the whole person."
—Parker J. Palmer, author, The Heart of Higher Education, A Hidden Wholeness, Let Your Life Speak, and The Courage to Teach

"An extremely important book for layperson and professional alike. A stunning wake-up call for higher education—highly recommended!"
—Ken Wilber, author, The Integral Vision

"Cultivating the Spirit makes a unique and important contribution to one of the least examined yet most fundamental questions about undergraduate education: how students acquire the values and convictions that help to give meaning and purpose to their lives.... The authors provide a wealth of valuable findings about this vital process and its effects on student achievement, well-being, and personal growth in college."
—Derek Bok, former president, Harvard University, and author, The Politics of Happiness

"The fruit of a decade of elegantly designed and compelling research, Cultivating the Spirit provides timely and significant data for reorienting the conversation about the relationships among intellectual inquiry, traditional academic values, and the formation of the inner life. Informative, clearly written, essential, and evocative reading for today's faculty across all institutions—public and private, secular and religious."
—Sharon Daloz Parks, author, Big Questions, Worthy Dreams and Leadership Can Be Taught

From the Inside Flap

This groundbreaking work is based on a five-year study of how students change during the college years and the role college plays in facilitating the development of their spiritual qualities. Students, the authors argue, grapple with the big questions in life: Who am I? What are my values? Do I have a mission in life? Why am I in college? What kind of person do I want to be? What sort of world do I want to help to create? Their answers to these questions help determine their academic and career choices and are tied to the development of personal qualities such as empathy, caring, and social responsibility.

The study finds that, while students' religious engagement declines during college, at the same time they become substantially more caring, tolerant, connected with others, and actively egaged in a spiritual quest. Spiritual growth also enhances academic performance, leadership development, and satisfaction with college. The study provides strong evidence pointing to specific experiences during college that can contribute to students' spiritual growth.

The need for spiritual development in college is apparent. Two-thirds of the students in the study express a strong interest in spiritual matters, well over half report that their professors never encourage discussions of religious or spiritual matters, and about the same proportion report that professors never provide opportunities to discuss the purpose and meaning of life.

Cultivating the Spirit aims to raise the awareness of academic administrators, faculty, and the public at large to the vital role that spirituality plays in student learning and development. Throughout the book, the authors identify strategies for enhancing students' development and encourage the academy to give greater priority to the spiritual aspects of students' educational and personal development.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (November 16, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470769335
• ISBN-13: 978-0470769331
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 0.9 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #266,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid Research From Highly Respected Authors July 23, 2011

By John D. Foubert

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

There is no question that Cultivating the Spirit is another book in a long line of ground breaking research put out by the Astins that will help shape the field of higher education. It is refreshing to see mainstream researchers take on the once taboo subject of spirituality. A book length manuscript allows for a detailed explanation of the concepts they deal with, with some surprising results here and there sprinkled among what might be predicted. For those who know of the Astin's data set, there will be no surprise that they offer an amazingly deep pool of participants to shed light on issues of spirituality and religion among both students and faculty in higher education. They also are highly adept at multivariate statistical modeling, and explaining it, which helps breath life into their findings. One of their findings which raises an eyebrow initially is that students level of religious commitment changes very little during college. This stands in contrast to many findings of the past, and popular presumption that there is a fade away from religious commitment during the college years. Upon further inspection though, the items used to measure religious commitment talk about gaining spiritual strength, and ask about spiritual/religious beliefs. This raises the point about whether this construct is really measuring religion or spirituality. It struck me that future iterations of their work could benefit from a more precise operational definition and more distinct differentiation between religion and spirituality. That said, I found the book worthwhile and believe that it should be on the shelf of all of us who care about the spiritual development of college students.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Caveat Emptor August 14, 2011

By Richard B. Schwartz TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

In 2007 former Yale Law School Dean Anthony Kronman published a book entitled EDUCATION'S END: WHY OUR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES HAVE GIVEN UP ON THE MEANING OF LIFE. Basically, Dean Kronman discusses the abandonment of `big questions' and the classic curriculum which addressed such questions. At the same time, Professor Astin and his UCLA colleagues were studying the manner in which college can actually enhance the addressing of these questions and the development of what he terms students' `inner lives'. The result of their study is CULTIVATING THE SPIRIT.

While the books share similar concerns, broadly speaking, they could not be more different in their execution. Kronman's book is an extended meditation, a blend of personal, cultural and intellectual history. Astin's book is survey-based social science.

There is a joking injunction in the university that `thou shalt not commit a social science'. Astin has been committing them for years and his research institute is one of the most important in the country. His methods are judicious and as `reliable' as one might wish. In this study he examines the experience of a multiplicity of students from a large number of diverse institutions. He takes snapshots and he develops longitudinal data. He explores his conclusions at great length and he deploys his methodology in great detail.

There is only one problem: very, very few of the conclusions are counterintuitive. In the course of their college experience students tend to become slightly more spiritual but slightly less religious. They are more likely to explore ultimate questions if they major in English than if they major in Business. They are likely to be more caring if they study in the school of Nursing or Health Professions. Junior year abroad programs are likely to enhance their understanding of one another and their sense of global citizenship. Watching a great deal of television and doing a lot of partying tend not to help in the acquisition of greater spirituality.

That is not to say that the book is without insight, for it is important to confirm the intuitive through actual research, but given the dimensions of the study the insights are likely to be statistically hedged. My undergraduate university, for example, banned fraternities. Should it have? Astin's research shows that: "Being a member of a sorority or fraternity . . . shows negative consequences for students' grades. For example, there is a net decline of 23 percent between high school and college in the number of students overall earning average grades of B+ or better. However, among students who join fraternities or sororities, the net decline is 30 percent, compared to only 22 percent among independent students."

Is this the kind of conclusion upon which we can build public (or university) policy? If I were at UCLA I might seriously consider pledging a fraternity, because they are adjacent to campus and that would reduce commutation time and provide easy access to UCLA's superb libraries. A UCLA administrator told me that the university hopes to have its faculty live in close proximity to the campus so as to maximize faculty/student interaction. I asked what `close proximity' meant. The answer: within 50 miles. As a student I'd want to live right across the street from campus. Fraternity membership could in effect be one of the keys to academic success.

Readers should be aware that this book is written in the language of social science. As such it is very, very cautious in spelling out its assumptions, methods and conclusions. The result is that it is not very readable. In the Army, Military Instructor Education principles urge you to: "Tell `em what you're going to tell `em; tell `em; and then tell `em what you told `em." That is not very different from the rhetoric of some of the social sciences, which add long lists of prior studies and long expositions of methodology.

The bottom line is that this is among the very best of social science on higher ed. but it makes for strictly professional reading. The general reader will skip to the summaries at the end of the discussions. I should say also that the spirit of the book is one that one is likely to encounter in colleges of Education rather than in departments of English, History, Classics or Philosophy. The noble goals which the co-authors espouse come across as more touchy-feely than serious/profound and notions are approached (relativism, e.g. or diversity) with little sense of the depth of meaning and passion and the spiritedness of debate which usually attend them.

I'm glad the book was written and I'm glad that Professor Astin and his colleagues were the ones to do it, but I think that its results might have been displayed in more accessible and interesting ways. My advice to the reader is to check out Dean Kronman's book.

5.0 out of 5 stars the missing piece of "holistic" education December 4, 2012

By Reid Mccormick

Format:Hardcover

"If students lack self-understanding - the capacity to see themselves clearly and honestly and to understand why they feel and act as they do - then how can we expect them to become responsible parents, professionals, and citizens?"

The past few decades has given us thousands of studies concerning higher education: how we learn, why we learn, who is learning, what we need to learn, etc. However, there have been practically no studies concerning the spiritual development of college students. Higher education authorities, Alexander Astin and Helen Astin wanted to fill this glaring void in education research.

Cultivating the Spirit is the result of a seven year study on the spiritual lives of college students. How as educators can we promote holistic development if we miss such a big piece of one's life?

My entire professional career as a student affairs professional has been spent working at private Christian institutions where spiritual development is central, thus I was extremely excited to read this study. Though the study is strictly spiritual and mainly irreligious, the findings can be easily applied to any campus community. My biggest take-aways: to increase spiritual development get faculty involved outside the classroom and make service-learning/community service an essential part of the campus culture.

Though the study is packed with some amazing findings, the book is just a glorified journal article - feeling more like a tiny textbook.