To Serve and Learn: The Spirit of Community in Liberal Education(37 Counterpoints Studies in the Postmodern Theory of Education)

Written by faculty, staff, and students from ten exemplary programs in service-learning at selected liberal arts colleges across the country, this collection of essays addresses vital issues in liberal learning and education for community. Its focus is the creation of educational goals and strategies for developing a service curriculum and for assuring an integral role for service-learning within distinctive institutional settings. This book highlights intimate connections between theory and practice with a shared emphasis on critical/reflective inquiry, social responsibility, and empowerment.

About the Author :
The Editors: Joseph L. DeVitis is a professor of education and human development at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Past president of the American Educational Studies Association and the Council of Learned Societies in Education, his books include Theories of Moral Development (Choice Award); Women, Culture and Morality (Peter Lang 1987); Building Bridges for Educational Reform: New Approaches to Teacher Education;Helping and Intervention; Competition in Education; School Reform in the Deep South: A Critical Appraisal (Choice Award); and The Success Ethic, Education, and the American Dream. Robert W. Johns is an associate professor of education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He has published in such journals as Theory and Research in Social Education, Art Education, Social Education, and Educational Studies, principally in the areas of teaching history, civic and global education, and school reform. He contributed the chapter, Bill Clinton and Arkansas: Can Political Leaders Reform Schools? in School Reform in the Deep South (David J. Vold and Joseph L. DeVitis, eds.). Douglas J. Simpson is a professor and dean of education at Texas Christian University. President of the Council of Learned Societies in Education and the Society of Professors of Education, his books include The Pedagodfathers, The Teacher as Philosopher, and The Educated Person. He has published in such journals as Educational Foundations, Educational Studies, Teacher Education Quarterly, Journal of Teacher Education, The Teacher Educator, Journal of Humanistic Education and Development, Negro Educational Review, British Journal of Educational Studies, International Education, and Journal of Thought.

Review :
Many educators, particularly in the liberal arts colleges of the nation, crave direction in following their best pedagogical instincts of 'breaking out of the box' into which undergraduate learning has been compressed. There are, simply put, supplementary paths to learning beyond the lecture system and beyond scholarly research for publication. In 'To Serve and Learn', attention is paid to service learning as an enhancer of the curriculum and of teaching methodology. It is a welcome demonstration of a 'Both-And' partnership that takes us productively past the old 'Either-Or' suspicions between traditional and experimental techniques and ideologies. The key to civic and moral renewal in this world lies in linking learning through personal commitment with improving public life. (Larry T. McGehee, Wofford College) The spirit of community undergirds the service curriculum included in this readable and stimulating book. All of us who work in liberal education are aware of the burgeoning interests our students are demonstrating in projects that will make them feel as though they can contribute in tangible ways to humanity. The international service-learning programs exemplified here are models of excellence from which we can take heart and upon which we can build our own unique learning and service opportunities for students. (Molly Kayes Ransbury, Associate Dean for International Education and Off-Campus Programs, Eckerd College) Highly recommended for those interested in service learning at the collegiate level. All levels. (G.K. Clabaugh, Choice)