ABSTRACT
The civic engagement agenda reflects a great concern about citizen disengagement from public life and anxiety over a decline in the social capital necessary for the survival of a vibrant democracy. A common institutional strategy for stemming the tide of civic disengagement has been to connect work in service-and community-based learning to civic outcomes. The development of theories about education for civic engagement has been made difficult by the contested nature of concepts associated with citizenship and the varied understandings of the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that are requisite for citizenship. Individual service learning instructors and programs have made distinct determinations about how they can contribute to their students’ civic learning and what knowledge, skills, and values they choose to pursue to make this contribution. The category of civic values is the most contentious area of civic learning outcomes because many educators, particularly those in public institutions, are reluctant to broach the subject of civic values.
