Dear Pledgers: Many of you have said you want a place where you can interact with each other and the GPA about the joys and challenges you experience in trying to fulfill your Pledge of social and environmental responsibility in the workplace and beyond. This page is for all of you, so feel free to post your own questions, and we’ll also post our own from time to time to get the discussion going! In fact, here’s a question to get the ball rolling:
WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN TRYING TO FULFILL THE PLEDGE?
I just want to say how great it is that you’ve got this new section of the website set up. It’s so important. I hope everyone will spread the word about it and make it a place where pledge-takers can connect with each other and with those who want to support them. Also note that there are a number of similar interactive forums, for pledge-takers and pledge organizers, on Facebook; just search on “GPA” or “Graduation Pledge.”
I had to push back regularly against those urging me to take a more short-termist approach in achieving my objectives, especially my parents who often launch a barrage of ‘what-if’s to dismiss my mentality of a ‘revolutionary’ (as Joshua Cooper Ramo termed in “Age of the Unthinkable”) and my much greater appetite for risk-taking than theirs, no matter how positive.
As facult advisor to the GPA my biggest challenge is sustaining the program from one class to the next. I’d be interested in hearing about strategies employed on different campuses. The commitment to the Pledge seems real, but campus leadership also seems to vary quite a bit from year to year.