Our Calling in the “Age of Precarity”

There’s a poem called “Into the Midst of It,” that I sometimes read to Grebel students when they graduate. It was written by the late Canadian poet Bronwen Wallace. The poem suggests that the good life is about finding your calling “in the midst” of a strange and beautiful world. It’s not about detailed maps and “signs that anyone can read.” True confidence in life comes from following what you’re called to, not from contingency planning. It’s the “sort of confidence you can’t put words around,” the poem says. 

I confess that I have trouble following this advice. People who work with me know that I can be a worry-wart. Even when things are going well, I think about loose ends. As a student, I was never finished studying for exams, because I worried about missing something important. As a lawyer, I was trained to think about everything and anything that can go wrong. 

Being a college president gives me plenty to worry about. Enrolment. Finances. Fundraising. Is it too hot in the building? Too cold? Is there ice on the sidewalk? Jesus said that worrying about the future will not add an hour to anyone’s life. It’s certainly true, but imagining what might go sideways (and planning for it) is part of what I’m paid to do. 

These days, I am not alone in finding things to worry about. In a recent report, the polling firm Abacus concluded that “the precarity mindset” is “the defining psychological condition of this era.” According to its authors, we are living through a time when a strong majority of Canadians harbour the feeling that “what you have could be taken away at any time, that the ground beneath your feet is no longer solid, and that the systems you were told to rely on may not hold.”

The crucial finding is that these are not normal, garden-variety worries. They’re more foundational. The list of uncertainties is long, and it includes Canada-U.S. relations, global armed conflicts, climate change, and the advance of artificial intelligence. Just 9 percent of Canadians felt that “life feels stable and secure,” while 67 percent agreed that “making long-term plans feels difficult.” 

For universities and colleges, the Abacus report raises troubling questions. Sixty-eight percent say that universities are “out of touch with the real-world needs of ordinary people,” and 82 percent say that student debt is a serious source of financial insecurity for young people. Fifty-nine percent of people aged 18-29 believe that they will “never achieve their parents’ financial stability because of housing costs.” 

Decades ago, a university degree was considered a passport to a job. Today, 69 percent of Canadians think that a university degree is not necessarily “the most reliable path to a successful career.” 

How will our students successfully prepare for their lives in this environment? And how can a college walk confidently toward the future when it feels like we’re on thin ice? 

Grebel will turn 75 in 2038. Last year, we gathered several times to look toward that milestone together. In individual written reflections and group discussions, faculty, staff, students, and Board members asked each other these questions: 

“It’s 2038 and Grebel is thriving. What is it best known for? What is it doing that matters most? What difference is Grebel making? What is the same and what looks different? What are the most significant challenges we will face?” 

We had no trouble coming up with challenges, and our answers reflected the “precarity mindset.” We imagined that the world will continue to struggle with political polarization, conflict, and loneliness. We wondered about the global disruptions that would arise from climate change, wars, and rapid technological change. We were concerned about how university education might be upended by artificial intelligence, limited funding, and skepticism about its value. 

But we gave voice to something stronger than these worries. Collectively, we expressed the joy of being part of a college that creates community and connection. As one staff member put it, “The difference Grebel is making is showing the world an alternative, sort of like an alternate universe, where people with vastly different beliefs and ideologies still coexist and talk around the dinner table.” 
We also expressed the conviction that community and connection are two things that our students (and the world) dearly need.

We sometimes talk as though what a small college like Grebel offers is a cute, nice-to-have feature of a university education—an optional side dish added to the main course of skills, degrees, and credentials. But by teaching students the hard work of building community, we are helping them build the personal resilience, adaptability, and resources they will need to face an uncertain future. 

Our founding president, Winfield Fretz, was a sociologist who studied how to form communities that offer mutual support and assistance to their individual members. That’s why he insisted on small round dining tables instead of long rectangular ones: he wanted to maximize opportunities for human connection. Fretz was building what a later sociologist, Robert Putnam, called “social capital.” Putnam stressed that “the term social capital emphasizes not just warm and cuddly feelings, but a wide variety of quite specific benefits that flow from the trust, reciprocity, information, and cooperation associated with social networks.” 

To return to the Abacus report: it concluded that in the future, “the institutions that will matter… are not in the credential business, and they are not in the skills business. They are in the agency business: the work of converting vertigo into footing, of turning the fear that systems will break into the confidence that a person can stand when they shake.” Grebel has always been in “the agency” business, although we haven’t framed it exactly that way. A big part of that work is providing opportunities for students to create community—because people who can successfully contribute to communities will have a greater capacity to find their way in the world. As my former law school professor Jennifer Nedelsky put it, “autonomy cannot… be understood as independence from others; autonomy is a capacity made possible by constructive relationships.” We build that capacity when we teach students how to manage conflict, make music in an ensemble, or join a table of strangers in the dining room. 

During our “Grebel in 2038” exercises last year, we came up with many ideas to build on these strengths and meet the needs of future students. These included new and expanded service opportunities and international experiences, internships for community and church leadership, and expanded, intentional programming connecting Grebel alumni and current students. 
We considered how we might grow our programs sustainably, without compromising the qualities we value most. A recurring comment from our academic students is that they “discover” Grebel courses relatively late in their undergraduate careers. How can we reach more Waterloo students in their first and second years? Meanwhile, demand for spaces in our residence and apartments routinely exceeds the supply. Should we expand our residence community? 

We also thought about affordability, and increasing our commitment to financial accessibility. Our alumni know the value of living in the Grebel residence, but the cost puts it out of reach from some students who would most benefit from it—and who would contribute most to it. Additionally, our academic programs are in fields where one can’t always draw a straight line from the degree to a career. If we believe that students should pursue callings in PACS, music, theology, and other humanities fields, should we do more to help them and their families shoulder the perceived financial risks? 

These are just some of the things that are on our minds at Grebel as we think about our next decade. We’ll be building out these ideas in the months ahead. If you have your own thoughts, responses, reflections, or ideas, feel free to share them with me at 
cgcpres@uwaterloo.ca. 

The writer and minister Frederick Buechner once wrote that “the place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” As we look to the future at Grebel, we know that we can’t plan for all contingencies or address every anxiety. But we have found our calling. Our “deep gladness” is to build and grow a vibrant community of learning in a world that is hungry for authentic human connection. That’s our ongoing vocation, and our response to the “age of precarity.”