Embracing an Indigenous Understanding of Service-Learning

NWIC Second Summit on Indigenous Service-Learning Keynote Address by John Guffey. Service-learning, a timeless indigenous approach to teaching and learning, takes its lead from two primary values: interdependence and self-awareness. In recent years service-learning has found its way into mainstream education in America, where it has come face-to-face with enduring principles of the west: individualism and competition. Service-learning is a way of linking human experience with understanding, compassion, harmony and relationship-building. If used for other purposes, this approach loses its meaning and effectiveness. The indigenous roots of service-learning must be recognized and nurtured, and the gap between "school" and "community" must be bridged if we are to fully utilize and preserve this form of education for our own and future generations.