Rethinking Student Development and Liberal Learning

For traditional-age college students (18 to 24 years old), college is a time of identity exploration. During this time, if individuals have a deep sense of caring for others, it is more likely that they will interact with others in an especially meaningful way. Thus, ways to expand student's identity through community service involvement are explored in this paper. Three objectives addressed are: (1) advance higher education's understanding of the kinds of learning experiences students have through involvement in community service; (2) use theoretical discussions of the "caring self " (a combination of symbolic discussions and feminist explanations of self) as a means to interpret findings on community service involvement; and (3) use interpretations of research to discuss the ideal of community and the role of higher education and community service in advancing community. Data for this paper were derived from a 6-year qualitative investigation of student participation in community service; such researc