Cause Celebre: Top Causes among US College Students

Ever wonder what causes US college students think are important? I have.

This summer, Dan Coates (Co-founder of SurveyU), wrote an article for EngageGenY on Cause Celebre. I was struck by this summary:

a study conducted by SurveyU in May shows that the environment is merely the 10th most-important cause in the minds of current college students.

What ranks at the top of the list? Education is considered very important by 81%, followed by child endangerment/abuse prevention at 68%. The fact that education leads the list shows how concerned students are about protecting and furthering their academic careers. Rape prevention (65%), civil/human rights (65%) and cancer (62%) round out the top five, with drunk driving prevention (61%), genocide (59%), domestic violence (57%), AIDS (57%) and environment/conservation (54%) completing the list of the causes that college students find important.

As the economy has collapsed over the past nine months, global causes have been replaced by local causes. Of the top 10 social causes, only one (genocide) has an obvious international context.

I don't know anything about the methodology used to collect this data, but it is suggestive to consider. What are the implications for those in Campus Ministry?