Community Service‐Learning: A Model for Teaching and Activism

A pedagogical movement of sorts has been developing over the past several years whereby college students engage in off-campus and out-of-classroom activities for a particular kind of learning experience. This approach, here referred to as community service-learning, has captured the attention of academics throughout the U.S. who believe that service-learning experiences should be added to the more traditional classroom teaching ubiquitous in colleges and universities. This essay reviews the basic philosophy behind service-learning and traces its emergence as a particular kind of pedagogical approach in service of civic engagement and social responsibility. The article also describes the service-learning program developed by Cornell University whereby college students learn by coming to know and by working in low-income neighborhoods that includes interning at a model public school in Brooklyn, New York.