Learning as a Way of Leading: Lessons from the Struggle for Social Justice (review)

Abstract

the complexity of this work, the intersections with dynamics of race and class that are thinly considered but demand more intentionality, and directions for research. They finish by charging key stakeholders with tasks at hand in order to “secure the future.” There are moments in the chapters where understandings or examples are lean and complacent with popular enactments of “weak multiculturalism” (Butin, 2003) or thin versions of charity (Morton, 1995). There are also places where the review of the research is too neat and does not acknowledge the complexities of both practice and research in civic engagement, let alone the inadequate understandings of difficult contexts in university/community partnerships central to the work. Civic engagement in terms of language and focus is a contested subject and has been viewed as too political or as simply not the business of higher education. This counterview goes unaddressed in any substantive way. However, together the contributing authors offer a very comprehensive review of research and practice while also providing leadership for the directions we must head in order to educate students for the 21st century, regardless of political standpoint or controversy. Civic Engagement in Higher Education: Concepts and Practices charts territory that is not new but has never been so comprehensively considered. For many years, Barbara Jacoby has been a catalyst in putting words and structures to quickly moving topics where consensus about definition is elusive. This edited volume on civic engagement takes the next step by moving beyond service­learning into the bigger questions around the civic purposes of higher education. What are those civic purposes? What should education for these purposes entail? Who can provide insight and leadership? Most importantly, what don’t we know or aren’t getting quite right? Barbara Jacoby and the contributing authors offer an important resource for higher education. This book is timely and much needed as institutions seek to put parameters and criteria to civic engagement for the purposes of its institutionalization and “securing the future.”