WISDOM IN HIGHER EDUCATION

In higher education, much attention is being directed at the quality of the student experience. It is up to educators to begin to answer the sophisticated questions about the quality of undergraduate education, conceptualized in its broadest form by the institutions’ primary stakeholders. In this current context, the time is nigh for career services to maximize its contribution to the creation of powerful learning environments and take a greater role in shaping this discussion. This guiding model will benefit students, employers, and institutions alike. Wisdom is a construct of six interacting dimensions: 1) self-knowledge, 2) understanding of others, 3) judgment, 4) life knowledge, 5) life skills, 6) willingness to learn. Wisdom develops when students go through the core “learning-from-life” process articulated into reflection, integration, and application. The conditions that facilitate the development of wisdom by directly or indirectly stimulating the learning-from-life process are: students’ orientation to learning, experiences, interactions with others, and the institutional environment. Depending on how deeply and often students are stimulated to go through the learning-from-life process, they will experience growth in one or more of the six dimensions of wisdom.