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Running head: CSP SELECTION II: DEVELOPING YOUR PROFESSIONAL PHILOSOPHY

CSP Selection II: Developing Your Professional Philosophy

Amy Yang

Western Illinois University

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CSP SELECTION II: DEVELOPING YOUR PROFESSIONAL PHILOSOPHY
In higher education, there are various core philosophical positions used to guide and

shape student affair professionals practice in the field. This paper will argue that some of the

crucial, core philosophical positions used in the student affairs field are to not reinvent the wheel,

be aware of the changing student affairs field to meet the needs of students, bridge student affairs

with academic affairs, and give a holistic experience to students. In addition, this paper will

analyze how those positions relate to each other as well as how those positions relate with my

values.

The wheel

One philosophical position in student affairs is that the practitioners should not reinvent

the wheel. Services and resources in functional areas have been put in place in institutions to

assist students. Typically, these services or resources may act as a concrete tradition within the

functional area. Hence, creating change or having innovation could be a challenge because

professionals within that functional area may be uncomfortable to amend the tradition.

Consequently, other colleagues may bring up the comment, do not reinvent the wheel. For

example, practitioners who have worked in their office for a while may dismiss a new idea from

one of their colleagues, especially if that colleague is a newly hired professional. Although their

colleagues may be presenting a well-worth invested idea, they may pull the do not reinvent the

wheel comment because they are blinded by the tradition they have always seen and known.

This idea of how challenging it is to modify traditions and create change parallels with Kuhns

(2012) idea of paradigms. Paradigms are the perspectives and beliefs people have when viewing

the world in their own lens. Student affair professionals may be using their paradigm to

advocate against a new idea being presented because that new idea does not fit within their
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CSP SELECTION II: DEVELOPING YOUR PROFESSIONAL PHILOSOPHY
paradigm. Therefore, the position, stay away from reinventing the wheel, could be fatal when

new ideas are easily dismissed.

The changing field and needs of students

Another philosophical position is that the professionals have to be aware about changes

within the field in order to meet the needs of their students. Student affairs is a field that has

constantly been changing and will continue to change. As a result, the practitioners are

responsible to update themselves with those changes. An example that illustrates how this field

has changed can be seen when examining the student population. Originally, higher education

was created for only wealthy, protestant, and white men (Schuh, Jones, and Harper, 2011). In

addition, student affairs did not exist during the colonial period, and the faculties held the

responsibility of loco parentis, which ultimately gave them the power and role to be the parents

and teachers for students. As time passed, the student population changed from having only

wealthy, white men to having a more diverse population that included minorities, women, and

non-traditional students (Schuh, et al., 2011; AAHE, ACPA, & NASPA, 1997; Keeling, 2004).

Understanding the changes in this field will help professionals understand the transformation of

student learning as well. Today, one of the main purposes to why students invest in higher

education is to be able to find an exceptional job after graduation (Keeling, 2004, 2006).

Consequently, student affairs professionals carry the responsibility to create meaningful and

purposeful services to best meet the needs of their students.

Holistic Experience

Aside from being aware of the changing field to meet the needs of students, promoting a

holistic experience to students is another philosophical position in student affairs. During the

beginning of higher education, a main outcome of going to college was to create leaders for the
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CSP SELECTION II: DEVELOPING YOUR PROFESSIONAL PHILOSOPHY
society and church (Schuh, et al., 2011). However, as higher education transformed and student

affairs emerged, the outcomes of going to college slowly changed to provide a holistic

experience for students and for students to use that experience to be successful after graduation

(Schuh, et al., 2011; ACPA, 1996). Obtaining a holistic experience means that students would

be exposed to learning inside and outside of the classroom, and those learning experiences would

positively contribute to their overall student development. Since promoting a holistic experience

to students is crucial in college, student affairs professionals share accountability to give services

and resources to produce this experience for students.

Student affairs with academic affairs

In addition to promoting a holistic experience for students, bridging student affairs with

academic affairs is another philosophical position. The experiences gained from in-class and

curriculums were seen as separate, which was a part of the traditional approach in higher

education (Magolda, 2005). As time passed and higher education developed, the need to align

student affairs with academic affairs became necessary to promote transformative student

learning (Keeling, 2004, 2006). Since student learning occurs inside and outside of the

classroom, this contributes to why bridging student affairs with academic affairs is crucial

(ACPA, 1996; Keeling, 2004). Student affair staff and faculty will be able to communicate and

fulfill the needs of students through partnerships. For example, student affair practitioners in

career services can collaborate with faculty, and faculty can then give their students a career-

related assignment, such as finding tips on how to construct resumes, prior to a workshop that

career services will give. This collaboration will help students have ownership in their learning,

and they may be more likely to gain more insights about resume-writing. Overall, to promote
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and give a holistic experience to students, this partnership needs to occur to help students build

their academic, professional, and personal experiences.

Relationship of the positions

The four positions function in a cyclic, continuous circle, where they all influence one

another. Student affair professionals must be aware of the changing field to meet the needs of

their students. There have been various transformations within higher education and the student

affairs field. Some of those changes are the diverse student population, the purpose of going to

college, and the meaning behind student learning. These changes impact the position, providing

students with a holistic experience. Many students today have multiple roles, and they are more

than just a student (Keeling, 2004). For instance, some students will be a parent and employee

while simultaneously pursuing their education. Hence, they may struggle to balance their

personal life with their professional and academic life. Since the student population is more

diverse and the holistic experience is important for students to have, student affairs have to be

intentional about the services they provide in order to meet the needs of their students. In this

case of non-traditional students, they may need more services to assist their transition back to

college and to feel welcomed in the campus community. The campus community is a learning

environment that influences how students learn as well as create a campus climate (ACPA, 1996;

AAHE, ACPA, & NASPA, 1998). When they feel comfortable and trust their community,

creating and having a holistic experience may be easier. Having a holistic experience may occur

naturally as well because they have one less stress to worry about and may feel happier in an

inclusive environment.

Not only has there been a change in the student population, but there has been a change in

perspective about student and academic affairs. A partnership between student and academic
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affairs is necessary to have to meet the needs of students and provide a holistic experience to

students (AAHE, ACPA, & NASPA, 1998). A part of a holistic experience is student learning.

Student learning used to be thought of occurring only in the classroom setting where students

would retain information from lecture (Keeling, 2004). However, student learning now is

thought to occur inside and outside of the classroom, which helps with transformative learning

(Kneeling, 2004; Kneeling, 2006; ACPA, 1996; Magolda, 2005). In addition, to maximize the

promotion of a holistic experience for students, the partnership between student and academic

fairs must be purposeful. The collaboration between these two affairs must be meaningful,

reciprocal, and responsive (Magolda, 2005). By nurturing a meaningful partnership, these two

affairs will have the opportunity to fill in the gaps of student needs and make positive changes.

When the needs of students are met and positive changes are implemented, students will be more

likely to gain exposure to a holistic experience.

My values

While student affair professionals strive to be aware of changes to best meet the needs of

their students, ironically, they use the phrase, do not reinvent the wheel. Kuhn states that

human-beings live in and are influenced by paradigms (2012). In this case, the phrase of do not

reinvent the wheel would represent a paradigm. When practitioners in this field use this phrase,

they are using their paradigm to argue against a new paradigm being presented. The

practitioners, who have worked in a particular student services office for a long time, would

believe that they understand how that area functions and operate. Thus they would use their

understanding of how to best serve students in their own or offices way. Student affairs should

use this wheel analogy carefully because if it is used without much thought, then it could inhibit

the philosophical positions I presented before. How would student affair professionals fulfill the
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position of meeting the needs of students if they are unwilling and blinded by their paradigm to

see changes or changes that are needed within the field? I think it is acceptable to be blinded by

ones own paradigm because paradigms in general are hard to see. However, it is not acceptable

to be unwilling to find and be open to new paradigms that comes along the foggy pathway. This

could also then jeopardize the position of promoting a holistic experience to students because the

partnership between student and academic affairs may be inhibited. In order to have a successful

collaboration between these two affairs, they must trust and be open to each others ideas. When

the open-mindedness is disrupted by paradigms, conflict may occur and the level of achievement

to assist student learning may be decreased. Therefore, because student affair professionals may

not know that they are in a paradigm, avoiding the phrase, do not reinvent the wheel, could

open opportunities to connect a puzzle piece to the whole puzzle.

Student affair professionals strive to provide opportunities for students to have a holistic

experience. However, because of the increase of student attendance in institutions, student

affairs have separated themselves by specialization to meet the needs of their students (Lloyd-

Jones, 1954). Although Lloyd-Jones argued that specialization is deemed to prohibit student

affair practitioners from providing a holistic experience to students, I disagree with that

argument. I actually think the opposite should be promoted. Specialization should be supported,

and specialization is beneficial because it trains student affair professionals in specific areas to

help specific students. If specialization is prohibited, the opportunity to maximally fulfill the

needs of students may not be met. For example, student affair professionals who work in career

services will have more experience and knowledge about resume-writing than other

professionals who work in academic advising services. Thus those professionals in career

services will be more equipped to guide students with their resumes. Furthermore, tailored
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practice, experience, and skills in a specific functional area assist student affair practitioners to

thoroughly understand what services need to be improved or created. Most importantly, bridging

student affairs with academic affairs can be a potential answer to alleviate Lloyd-Jones concern

about specialization. This partnership has to be continual, active, and strived from the institution

in order to merge specialization with the promotion of a holistic experience. Active

collaboration between student affair groups could diminish Lloyd-Jones concern because

specialized individuals who know their functional area will be able to present specific needs to

their collaborators. The collaborators could do the same as well. When this meaningful

partnership occurs and changes are implemented to meet the needs of students, both

collaborators will gain precious knowledge about each other. As a result, they may be able to

help students in other functional areas and know where to navigate students to for more

assistance.

Conclusion

The four philosophical positions, do not reinvent the wheel, be aware of the changing

student affairs field to meet the needs of students, bridge student affairs with academic affairs,

and give a holistic experience to students, work hand in hand with each other. Furthermore, they

play critical roles in this field, and will influence what I would like to have within my future

position. After analyzing the philosophical positions, I think I will leave a position if they

completely believed in the phrase, do not reinvent the wheel, and if they do not value

meaningful collaboration between student affairs and academic affairs. It is very important to be

aware that paradigms shape our practice and for that reason, we must consider or at least be open

to new ideas. Those new ideas may mean we have to reinvent the wheel to see the paradigm and

create positive changes to meet the needs of our students.

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CSP SELECTION II: DEVELOPING YOUR PROFESSIONAL PHILOSOPHY
References

American Association for Higher Education, American College Student Personnel Association,
& National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. (1998). Powerful
partnerships: A shared responsibility for learning. Retrieved from http:/
/www.acpa.nche.edu/powerful-partnerships-shared-responsibility-learning
American Association for Higher Education, American College Student Personnel Association,
& National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. (1997). Principles of good
practice for student affairs. Retrieved from http:/ /acpa.nche.edu/pgp/principle.htm
American College Personnel Association. (1996). The student learning imperative: Implications
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imperative-implications-student-affairs
Keeling, R. (2004). Learning Reconsidered. Washington, DC: American College Personnel
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Lloyd-Jones, E. (1954). Changing concepts of student personnel work. In E. Lloyd-Jones & M.R.
Smith (Eds.) Student personnel work as deeper teaching (pp. 1-14). New York, NY:
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Magolda, P. M. (2005). Proceed with caution: Uncommon wisdom about academic and student
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Schuh, J. R., Jones, S. R. Harper, S. R., & Associates (Eds.). (2011). Student services: A
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