Building Citizenship: How Quality Service Learning Develops Civic Values

Though many decry the decline in political participation, interest and social capital, few academic studies present a clear approach to help reverse these trends. This paper examines the impact of service learning programs on students' cynicism, political engagement, social capital, and attitudes toward out-groups. The data comes from a pre and post survey given to more than two hundred high school students in five different states. We show that if students are involved in quality service learning programs (e.g., those programs with a high degree of student voice and ownership), their cynicism will decline, political engagement and social capital will increase, and attitudes toward out-groups will be more tolerant. In short, quality service learning programs build citizenship. (authors)