The American system of higher education was founded not upon matters of convenience, but upon a conviction that graduates ought to exhibit good character and civic responsibility.
In light of the above truth, and in light of the fact that I recently received my second jury duty summons in four years, I find Yael Maxwell’s story (“From Campus to Courthouse,” Feb. 13, p.1) to be immediately relevant. Indeed, I cringe at the thought of clearing my schedule and mustering the motivation to make my way to Dorchester District Courthouse later this spring.
However, it is important to remember what has all but been forgotten these days: citizenship matters. Citizenship, and its correlates of responsibility and civility, matter because they enable us to build a better community in our residence halls, on our campuses, in our cities and across the fifty states in which we share citizenship. The architects of American society knew this to be true; indeed, many American founders right here in Boston dedicated their lives to institutions of higher education that took this truth to be a fundamental principle. Boston University, in fact, was chartered for the purpose of promoting learning, virtue and piety — three dynamic words that often sound antiquated to modern ears. Piety, perhaps the most misunderstood term, is not merely exclusive religious commitment; it is also devotion to parents, family and the larger society. In this sense, we as Boston University students exhibit the university motto when we participate in jury duty — a concrete and pious expression of principled civic responsibility to the society in which we live.
Jury duty is an inconvenience, but it is in no way incompatible with our higher education, which is itself an inconvenience as we change and grow in the face of new ideas and challenges. Indeed, the inconvenience of jury duty will not mysteriously disappear when we graduate and take on added responsibilities of work and family. My trip to the Dorchester District Courthouse will most certainly be an inconvenience, but it will also be an opportunity to participate in the very essence of what HIGHER education is all about. As Plato once noted: “If you ask what is the good of education, the answer is easy — that education makes good people, and that good people act nobly.”
Daryl Healea STH ’01, SED ’09