Liberating Service Learning and the Rest of Higher Education Civic Engagement

by Randy Stoecker

Randy Stoecker has been “practicing” forms of community-engaged scholarship, including service learning, for thirty years now, and he readily admits, “Practice does not make perfect.” In his highly personal critique, Liberating Service Learning and the Rest of Higher Education Civic Engagement, the author worries about the contradictions, unrealized potential, and unrecognized urgency of the causes as well as the risks and rewards of this work.       Here, Stoecker questions the prioritization and theoretical/philosophical underpinnings of the core concepts of service 1. learning, 2. service, 3. community, and 4. change. By “liberating” service learning, he suggests reversing the prioritization of the concepts, starting with change, then community, then service, and then learning. In doing so, he clarifies the benefits and purpose of this work, arguing that it will create greater pedagogical and community impact.  Liberating Service Learning and the Rest of Higher Education Civic Engagement challenges—and hopefully will change—our thinking about higher education community engagement.

Genres: Academic

228 pages, Paperback

First published May 23, 2016

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't have much experience with service learning and civic/community engagement, but as I prepare to teach a course next year with an important service learning component, this book brought up many tough but valuable questions. A fuller review will come out on the Wabash Center site, http://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/ho....

[Jake Gogats · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book destroyed me