Why is service-learning important, valuable and necessary?
Service-learning addresses simultaneously two important needs of our societies: the education and development of people and the provision of increased resources to serve individuals and communities.
Service-learning:
enriches students' learning of academic subjects. Theory is field-tested in practice and is seen and measured within a cultural context. Because the learning is put to immediate use, it tends to be deeper and to last longer.
develops leadership skills in students as they learn to work collaboratively with the community. They learn that the most effective leadership is that which encourages the active participation-and, indeed, leadership-of others.
promotes intercultural and international understanding. The service, whether local, domestic, or international, almost always occurs with people whose lives are very different from that of the student. By working with them, the student comes to understand and appreciate their different experiences, ideas, and values, and to work cooperatively with them. Service-learning thus nurtures global awareness and socially responsible citizenship.
fosters in students personal growth, maturity, the examination of values and beliefs, and civic responsibility, all within the context of a community and its needs. Students explore how they may use their education for the benefit of the community and the well-being of others, especially those in need.
provides help to service agencies and to communities, addressing needs that would otherwise remain unmet. Service-learning does not replace paid work. Rather, it supplements and extends such work, offering service that would otherwise not be available.
sets academic institutions in a reciprocal relationship with the community that supports them and in which they are located. In today's world, with pressing issues in every community and nation, academic institutions are called to apply their knowledge and resources to these problems and needs.
advances our understanding of societies, cultures, and world issues by testing scholarship against immediate practical experience and theory within a cultural context.
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