Empowering Communities: The Importance of Community-Based Approaches to Service-Learning in Latin American Elite Schools

• In Event: Community Partners as Co-Educators: The Value of Community

Abstract

Service-learning programs have been traditionally seen as instruments to bring together people whose lives are different. However, SL projects sometimes promote the idea that members of marginalized communities are ill-equipped to solve their problems; this reinforces the belief that wealthier people are saviors of poorer people. SL programs in Latin American elite schools, defined as those serving the wealthiest students, mostly focus on the needs and interests of their students; community voices are rarely heard. Communities only become instruments to benefit students from elite schools; this only exacerbates the us-them divide. Hence, I argue that in order for SL to accomplish its positive potential, schools have to design them following the precepts of community-based interventions.

Author

• Ignacio Barrenechea, University of Miami