Community Service and Education

This report presents results of a three-year evaluation of Learn and Serve, Higher Education.

The focus of this book is on the ways in which service learning and multicultural education can and should be integrated so that each may be strengthened and consequently have greater effect on educational and social conditions. It offers a significant attempt to forge a dialogue among practitioners of service learning and multicultural education. The overriding theme is that service learning without a focused attention to the complexity of racial and cultural differences can reinforce the dominant cultural ideology, but academic work that seeks to deconstruct these norms without providing a community-based touchstone isolates students and schools from the realities of the larger communities of which they are part. Although the chapter authors provide varied perspectives on the benefits and challenges of integrating multicultural education and service learning, they all are committed to a vision of education that synthesizes both action and reflection. None of the authors pretend to have all the answers to what this integration should look like, nor do they believe that today's social problems are easily ameliorated through education. Rather, they share theories, practices, failures, and triumphs in order to further the conversation about the importance of aligning what educators say about the world and how they act in and on it. These authors share the view that multicultural education is truly transformative for students only when it includes a community action component, and likewise, service learning is truly a catalyst for change only when it is done from a multicultural and socially just perspective. It is their hope that the ideas explored in this book will further the work of those who share a commitment to the integration of action and reflection.

Research has shown that there is a correlation between academic achievement and the strength of community life and awareness within a school. The aim of this book is to introduce communitarian thought to classroom teachers and to those working in education. The book contextualizes the current debates within education around the many topical ideas being developed by communitarian thinkers, including: character-building; the role of parents; the community and the individual; values education and citizenship; community education; standards and ethos in schools. Throughout, the book makes specific reference to the practical implications for both primary and secondary schools as well as for further education colleges.

These 20 essays illustrate teaching strategies that can be incorporated into community-based practicums and internships. The book explores the innovative uses of experiential education in community work. Useful techniques for community problem-solving and ways in which groups can learn to work together more effectively are provided. There are new applications of democratic practice. Mutual self-respect and collective self-reliance are encouraged. Practitioners will find they can have power in an increasingly interdependent society and world.