Recent Program Assessment
Recently the Liberal Arts in Prison Program conducted a survey of all current and past volunteers, including both students and faculty. The results were overwhelmingly positive. From this survey we learned that 1 of 7 students of the recently graduated class of 2012 volunteered in the program. Additionally "fully half of respondents answered that they were currently involved in an activity that directly related to their prison program experience." These endeavors include "teaching, social work, or directly working with prison-related projects or careers." Below are some examples of student, alumni, and faculty responses to the program:
"[The program] has lead to direct engagement with folks whom I would be otherwise unlikely to encounter;...it has improved my pedagogical skills and my ability to discuss complicated material with a wider variety of people; it has exposed me to the humiliation--all too quotidian for too many people across the globe--of checkpoints and pat-downs."-- Current Student
"Being able to pass on a basic understanding of and appreciation for the liberal arts has given my education a concrete output and reinforced my belief in the importance of the liberal arts." -- Current Student
"Seeing the manifestations of a liberal arts education and the impact of students born out of this kind of educational system has greatly motivated me, in not only my school work but also other areas I feel passionate about." --Current Student
"[Volunteering] in prison has revealed and helped me challenge my own [subconscious] notions about race, class and gender. It has also pushed me to learn more about the US prison system and interrogate the way we as a society construct crime, punishment, and people who fall into those categories." -- Current Student
"Teaching at the prison really showed me how I can use my liberal arts education to foster positive change." -- Alum
"I taught a class that was a reflection of one of the classes I was currently taking. Getting the prisoners' diverse perspectives on the course material helped me to better engage with the materials in class, and gave me a deeper understanding of the course work, and its real-life applications." -- Alum
"Participating in the prison program helped highlight the power of liberal arts education and also of how effective it can be for creating community." -- Alum
"[The prison program] has inspired me to a whole new level of appreciation for the potential impact I might have on students. It has given me a chance to work with students with a unique degree of intensity and passion that truly reinvigorates my work on campus." --Faculty
"It has helped me think about how I present material to students with a wide range of backgrounds. Teaching...in Grinnell sometimes traps me into thinking I am connecting with all the students because some of them are quiet about what they don't know. I think teaching in the prison has made me more skillful in bringing all my students into the same conversation." -- Faculty
"Teaching in prison has changed my cynicism...because I constantly deal with students who have a hunger and deep respect for knowledge, and are willing to pursue almost any subject matter for its own sake." --Faculty
The complete results of the assessment can be found below, under Attachments.
