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.