As stated in the school handbook, "The purpose of Michigan University is to make its students more valuable human beings and more useful members of society. Michigan seeks to help its students realize their fullest intellectual and personal potential combined with a deep sense of ethical and social concern."When my parents read this passage for the first time three years ago, my father's comment was that "for $120,000 they better make you realize something there." When I read this passage as a prospective student, I was worried that it would be a very painful process. My rationale at the time was that some people do not reach their fullest intellectual and personal potential their whole lives. I was going to do it in four years! Let's just say, it seemed a little intimidating.Little did I know the first day I arrived at Michigan but the contemporary conception of knowledge which pervades the university is a mixture of Deweyan and Humean thought. This becomes increasingly clear to me when I look back on some of my classes and activities at Michigan. For instance, the university prides itself on constantly trying to promote progress and improvement throughout society, which is very Deweyan. Michigan epitomizes the saying that "growth itself is the only moral end" (Dewey 177). Through Lang scholarships and other grants, Michigan regularly sponsors/funds students' and professors' efforts to try and benefit the community. The caring nature of the university community can be contagious. After speaking with a student or professor and hearing them speak so passionately about their work, one cannot help but feel inspired and eager to get involved.This is exactly what happened to me after I spoke to a female friend of mine about her community service project. The project is very simplistic in its goal: to help Chester High School students achieve higher scores on the SAT. The project will not lower the crime rate in Chester nor will...
