The Legacy of Rural Service-Learning

By: Nicholas Holton, Service-Learning Coordinator at Kirtland Community College

In my third decade as a service-learning teacher, I often wonder, what were the underpinnings of my commitment to service as a pedagogy? I keep coming back to the strong rural traditions of my small country school. My teachers didn’t use terms like civic engagement, community service, or service-learning, but they did tell us we could help others. They did explain to us we had a responsibility to make our community a better place. Finally they did show us through service projects how to make our community better. Service-learning and civic engagement was alive in our small rural school back then, and it is even more vibrant today.

Rural areas in general and rural schools in particular are seen in one of two ways. Some think rural places are filled with peaceful bucolic towns of slow moving happy people. Others think of back woods filled with ignorant bumpkins ready to shoot anyone coming near. In fact, rural areas are filled with people who have the same problems as any large city. Poverty, crime, homelessness, domestic violence, and any other issue faced by large urban areas are also found in rural America. Helping our students to recognize the problems, and start to alleviate their effects is the mission of rural service-learning programs.

The challenge for rural service-learning teachers is to overcome the special challenges of rural areas to create meaningful projects that enrich student learning, Students, some reluctant at first to do service projects, embrace this as an alternative to the lecture-test method often found in our classrooms.

Just one example of a challenge faced by rural areas is the large geographical area of many rural districts. My local school district covers an area of approximately 500 square miles. Getting students to, and from, service projects is always an obstacle. Successful teachers find ways to overcome this through class trips, developing projects students can do at home, and using technology to reach out to others across vast distances. Similarly, other challenges unique to rural service-learning can be addressed through creative solutions.

My passion for service-learning can be traced back to my earliest classroom experiences in rural Michigan classrooms. My teachers knew an engaged citizenry was the best hope for the future of our country. Their commitment to students created adults ready for college, the workforce, and the responsibilities of a democracy. Today’s rural service-learning teachers are carrying on this tradition quietly down the back roads of Michigan, creating rich service opportunities for students and creating the next generation leaders.