ABSTRACT
This chapter describes three primary objectives for Civil Rights and Liberties. First, students should develop an understanding of the theoretical and historical foundations, as well as the current status, of American constitutional law, specifically as it relates to the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment. Second, students should learn to identify the strengths and weaknesses of current constitutional doctrine in those areas. Third, and perhaps most important, students should appreciate the practical realities resultant from the inevitable conflict between the desire for an ordered society and the premium Americans place on individual rights. Service-learning has proven quite valuable to the achievement of this objective. All students agreed that they came away from the experience with a better understanding of the impact of the Bill of Rights on individual lives and how debates about rights and liberties are not limited to the classroom.
