This essay places service-learning within the liberal arts tradition of empowering others to help themselves. Such a contextualization departs from visions of the student as consumer or customer and education as a means to gain economic advantage in a competitive market. Attention then turns to how even well-intentioned service-learning projects…

This paper poses the question of whether it is possible to teach writing (or work with teachers teaching writing) so that public perceptions of students, and of writing, change. The paper elaborates on the question--Is it possible to: (1) use writing as a way to eradicate deficit-based notions of students and their abilities; and (2) use writing…

An adventure education program combines environmental education, character education, and service learning with ropes courses, orienteering, and rock climbing to offer Romanian youth opportunities for trust building and reconciliation in the wake of the economic, environmental, and moral devastation left by the Communist dictator. An ecotourism…

Reflects on the role of service education, suggesting that a comprehensive program might include locating service education within a social context, offering community service and service learning projects, developing a service education climate through projects fully integrated into a given teacher's academic curriculum, incorporating both social…

This essay addresses how to cope with several potential barriers to implementing effective service-learning projects. The discussion builds on experiences of developing and refining service-learning in upper-division communication courses. Difficulties arise in three areas: the institutional and physical setting, student attitudes, and community…

Agency-school collaborations are examined from the point of view of the agency. The data for the analysis were gathered through interviews with staff people from six different community-based organizations in California, all of whom have experience working with schools and youth volunteers. The study found that there often are culture clashes…

Service learning links community service and volunteerism with academic learning. It is a collaborative effort that brings schools, community-based organizations, parents, and other community members together in a common enterprise of individual and community growth. Service learning is based on a number of existing links between schools and…

This publication contains 36 short essays on the reauthorization of the National and Community Service Act. It begins with two introductory papers: "Visions of Service: The Future of the National and Community Service Act" (Sagawa, Halperin) and "Historical Background: An Overview" (Sagawa). Section I, Why Service?, contains 15…

Community-based learning (CBL) is a structured approach to learning and teaching that connects meaningful community experience with intellectual development, personal growth, and active citizenship. Enthusiasm for CBL is emerging in Australia and elsewhere because it is seen as the following: strategy for whole-school reform, especially in…

Researchers have found that high-quality service learning programs are rich with benefits for schools, communities, and students. One hallmark of successful service learning programs is that they honor youth voice (meaning that they include young people in the creation and implementation of service opportunities). Elementary, middle, and high…