Service-Learning and Community Engagement: Cognitive Developmenta ...

Chapter 1

Introduction

The goals of American higher education have included, among other objectives, the preparation of citizens for active involvement in community life since the founding of Harvard College in 1636. In The American College and University: A History, Rudolph (1962) reports that the public purpose of the American college includes a responsibility to the past, the present, and the future. This responsibility requires colleges and universities to substantially address the embedded and emerging social problems of communities.

Since the early 1980s, an increasing interest in service has reflected a concern that institutions of higher education should be more responsive to society and that higher learning in general ought to have greater relevance to public life (Boyer, 1988, 1994; Bruckhardt, Holland, Percy, & Zimpher, 2004; Rhoads, 1997).