Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T04:53:44.305Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Learning Political Engagement from the Experts: Advocacy Groups, Neighborhood Councils, and Constituency Service

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2006

Siegrun Fox Freyss
Siegrun Fox Freyss
Affiliation:
California State University, Los Angeles
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This article describes an uncommon approach to service learning. To demonstrate points of access to the political system, I place students in my class with experts of the political advocacy process, not with charitable nonprofits. And to reach a wide spectrum of students, I integrate the service-learning component in one section of the basic American and state government course, which is a general education requirement for all college graduates in the state of California. This report explains the approach, evaluates the course based on student responses, identifies reasons for its success, and points out some of the limits encountered. The article follows the tradition of Battistoni (2000), Battistoni and Hudson (1997, 1), Zlotkowski (1998), and others by sharing insights into the theory and practice of service learning in political science, in the hopes of making transparent the advantages and limits of this form of experiential learning.I am grateful to the department of political science, the college of natural and social sciences, and the dean of undergraduate studies at the California State University, Los Angeles, for supporting my modification of one section of the POLS 150 course to include a service-learning component. I also wish to thank Ted Anagnoson and Jan Mackay for their constructive comments as I developed my service-learning course. The researchers at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching deserve a word of appreciation for including my course in the Political Engagement Project, and finally a thank you should go to the anonymous reviewer of the original manuscript.

Type
THE TEACHER
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , January 2006 , pp. 137 - 145
Copyright
© 2006 The American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

APSA Standing Committee on Civic Education, and Engagement. 2004. Democracy at Risk: Renewing the Political Science of Citizenship. Final Draft for Review, Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago. Retrieved 9/24/2004 at www.princeton.edu/∼apsaciv/.Google Scholar
Battistoni, Richard M. 2000. “Service Learning in Political Science: An Introduction.” PS: Political Science and Politics 33 (September): 615–616.Google Scholar
Battistoni, Richard M., and William E. Hudson, eds. 1997. Experiencing Citizenship: Concepts and Models for Service-Learning in Political Science. Washington, D.C.: American Association for Higher Education.Google Scholar
Bennett, Stephen E. 2000. “ Political Apathy and Avoidance of News Media among Generations X and Y: America's Continuing Problem.” In Education for Civic Engagement in Democracy: Service Learning and Other Promising Practices, eds. Sheilah Mann and John J. Patrick. Bloomington: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies, Indiana University.Google Scholar
Campus Compact. 2002a. “Campus Compact Annual Service Statistics 1999, 2000, 2001.” Retrieved 10/23/2002 at www.compact.org/newscc/.Google Scholar
Campus Compact. 2002b. “Student Civic Engagement Campaign.” Retrieved 10/23/2002 at www.compact.org/students/.Google Scholar
Campus Compact. 2003. “2002 Service Statistics. Highlights of Campus Compact's Annual Membership Survey.” Retrieved 9/23/2004 at www.compact.org/newscc/2002_Statistics.pdf.Google Scholar
Campus Compact. 2004. “2003 Service Statistics. Highlights of Campus Compact's Annual Membership Survey.” Retrieved 9/23/2004 at www.compact.org/newscc/stats2003/default.html.Google Scholar
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. 2002. “Political Engagement Project.” Retrieved 10/24/2002 at www.carnegiefoundation.org/PEP/.Google Scholar
Claus, Jeff, and Curtis Ogden, eds. 1999. Service Learning for Youth Empowerment and Social Change. New York: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Colby, Anne, Thomas Ehrlich, Elizabeth Beaumont, and Jason Stephens. 2002. Educating Citizens: Preparing America's Undergraduates for Lives of Moral and Civic Responsibility. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Freyss, Siegrun F., and Phyllis I. Behrens. 1994. “Volunteers Require more than Amateur Status.” PA Times 17 (May): 1–2.Google Scholar
Galston, William A. 2004. “Civic Education and Political Participation.” PS: Political Science and Politics 37 (April): 263–266.Google Scholar
Guarasci, Richard, Grant H. Cornwell et al., eds. 1997. Democratic Education in an Age of Difference: Redefining Citizenship in Higher Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Hepburn, Mary A., Richard G. Niemi, and Chris Chapman. 2000. “Service Learning in College Political Science.” PS: Political Science and Politics 33 (September): 617–622.Google Scholar
Honnet, Ellen P., and Susan J. Poulsen. 1989. Principles of Good Practice for Combining Service and Learning. Racine, WI: Johnson Foundation. Retrieved 10/22/2002 at www.servicelearning.org/library/online_documents/good_practice.html.Google Scholar
Jacoby, Barbara, et al. 1996. Service-Learning in Higher Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Joyce, S. A., and E. K. Ikeda. 2002. Serving Safely: A Risk Management Resource for College Service Programs. San Francisco: California Campus Compact.Google Scholar
Junn, Jane. 2004. “Diversity, Immigration and the Politics of Civic Education.” PS: Political Science and Politics 37 (April): 253–255.Google Scholar
Liu, Goodwin. 1996. “ Origins, Evolution, and Progress: Reflections on the Community Service Movement in American Higher Education, 1985–1995.” In Community Service in Higher Education: A Decade of Development, eds. Richard Battistoni and Keith Morton. Providence, RI: Feinstein Institute for Public Service, Providence College.Google Scholar
Oleck, Howard L., and Martha E. Stewart. 1994. Nonprofit Corporations, Organizations, & Associations, 6th ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Robinson, Tony. 2000. “Service Learning as Justice Advocacy: Can Political Scientists Do Politics?” PS: Political Science and Politics 33 (September): 605–612.Google Scholar
Stanton, Timothy K., Dwight E. Giles, and Nadine I. Cruz. 1999. Service Learning: A Movement's Pioneers Reflect on Its Origins, Practice, and Future. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Walker, Tobi. 2000. “The Service/Politics Split: Rethinking Service to Teach Political Engagement.” PS: Political Science and Politics 33 (September): 647–649.Google Scholar
Zlotkowski, E., ed. 1998. Successful Service-Learning Programs: New Models of Excellence in Higher Education. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Zook, Nathan, and Alan R. Gitelson. 2004. “APSA Teaching and Learning Conference: A Summary of Four Tracks. Track Two: Civic Education and Service Learning.” PS: Political Science and Politics 37 (July): 482–483.Google Scholar