Volume 4, Issue 2

Over the course of the past several years, we have given a good deal of thought to the role that service learning plays in encouraging civic participation and values development. We have found ourselves asking questions about the differences between service learning experiences and diverse forms of political and social activism in which college students tend to become involved. A variety of questions emerge around these concerns: Should educators impose limits on student choice with regard to selecting various projects or activities in conjunction with a service learning course or experience? Are forms of political and social activism associated with social movements considered within the range of possible service learning alternatives? Particularly, to what degree are experiences rooted in challenging particular institutions and/or societal structures included in a vision for service learning?

The Mook and Midriff are metaphors for young men and women typically portrayed in the media. They are shallow, self-absorbed characters inordinately focused on physical appearance and personal satisfaction. The media uses increasingly coarse images to capture attention of young adult viewers and in so doing, contributes to erosion of traditional cultural norms and the building of a new media culture fixated on personal gratification and the call to young people to become entertainers for others. The effects of this new media culture can be seen in many ways. For example, many college students significantly misperceive the behavior of their peers, grossly exaggerating the frequency of substance use and sexual behaviors. These misperceptions typify the effect the new media culture has on college students' ways of thinking – their intellectual dispositions. Colleges and universities can help to overcome these negative effects by explicitly focusing on the development of students' intellectual dispositions. Through individual courses, co-curricular activities, and other initiatives higher education can help students develop the habits of the mind necessary for moral and civic development.

Comfortably, I sit here and write, not having to search the street garbage cans for morsels to eat, not having to watch every step for the AK-47 that is aimed at my head. Who am I to speak of the glories of America when I have relatives across the Atlantic, in the often forgotten sands of Cairo and Upper Egypt, which have to fight for every breath of life? Who am I to proclaim the Great American Dream when I have enough education in diction to even write this essay, when I have the most fortunate chance to make something great of myself? Until one sees the slums of the world, will one even remotely fathom the paradise we have in America. Until one has a cousin nearly die in a terrorist attack or have a friend have to hold his dead uncle in his heart because of the blind knife of a thoughtless fanatic, can one even remotely comprehend the blessing of not just life but an AMERICAN life.