ERIC EJ905166: Jane Addams and the Origins of Service-Learning Practice in the United States

2004·0.04 MB·English

by  ERIC

Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning Fall 2004,pp. 5-13
Jane Addams and the Origins of Service-Learning
Practice in the United States
Gary Daynes
Brigham Young University
Nicholas V. Longo
University of Minnesota
This article uses primary and secondary research on educational,social,and political theory in the late
19th and early 20th centuries to argue that the history of service-learning must be revised to include Jane
Addams’pioneering work. A full consideration of Addams significantly revises understanding the origins
of service-learning,suggesting service-learning has its origins as a practice,not a theory; in the com-
munity,not the university; and among women,not men. Further,Addams’work counterbalances the con-
temporary effort to justify service-learning largely on its scientifically verifiable outcomes.
“The settlement is a protest against a restricted for educational reform, the history it has crafted
view of education.” has taken an unusual form. It has focused over-
—Jane Addams whelmingly on John Dewey as the intellectual fore-
father of the movement (Giles, 1991; Giles &
In a 1904 essay titled “The Humanizing
Eyler, 1994; Saltmarsh, 1996). In this, the history
Tendency of Industrial Education,” Jane Addams
of a movement about community-campus partner-
asked her readers to imagine what public schools
ships for action has been written largely as a histo-
would look like if they followed the educational
ry of ideas emerging from a university. Of course,
practices of Hull House, the social settlement that
John Dewey’s work is enormously rich and his role
Addams had formed with Ellen Gates Starr 15
in creating a system of education responsive to
years before. “We could imagine the business man
community interests should not be minimized.
teaching the immigrant his much needed English
Nonetheless, if the movement is to learn from its
and arithmetic,”she wrote,“and receiving in return
origins,it needs to take a fuller look at them.
lessons in the handling of tools and materials so
There have been attempts to expand the early
that they should assume in his mind a totally dif-
history of service-learning, including efforts to
ferent significance from that [which] the factory
include Jane Addams among the early pioneers of
gives them.” In the same place, Addams argued,
community service in American culture (along
one should see Italian women learning English in
with Dewey and Dorothy Day) from Keith Morton
the kitchen while they teach their instructors “how
and John Saltmarsh (1997). Ira Harkavy and John
to cook the delicious macaroni, such a different
Puckett (1994) use Hull House as a model for con-
thing from the semi-elastic product which temporary urban universities, especially the part-
Americans honor with that name” (Addams, nerships at University of Pennsylvania. Jane
1904/1994,p. 120). Addams School for Democracy uses the legacy of
Had Addams written “The Humanizing Hull House to inspire a long-term community-uni-
Tendency”in 1994 one would see in her remarks a versity partnership between the University of
creative but typical description of service-learning. Minnesota and the West Side neighborhood of St.
But the date of her writing,1904,and the location Paul,Minnesota (Longo & Wallace,2000; Wallace,
of the service-learning, Hull House, suggests that 2000). In addition, Charles Stevens (2003) has
Addams’ work was much more than a standard done pioneering work on the African-American
application of service-learning practice. It was, origins of service-learning (Stevens, 2003). This
instead, pioneering work, the understanding of article builds upon this work and proposes that Jane
which should reframe thinking about the history Addams’work and writing are essential to such a
and significance of service-learning. re-examination of service-learning’s history.
Though the service-learning movement has paid Addams allows us a glimpse into the origins of ser-
more attention to its history than most movements vice-learning as a practice,as opposed to a theory.
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Daynes and Longo
A history of service-learning that takes account of lege educated women. She attended Rockford
Addams also locates the origins of service-learning Female Seminary,which was in the process of tran-
not in the university, but in the community, with sitioning from a finishing school to liberal arts col-
lege when Addams was there. When Addams grad-
institutions (including institutions of higher educa-
uated from Rockford she went to medical school,
tion) playing an important supporting role. And it
and then, after a prolonged illness, to Europe. Her
places the origins of service-learning squarely in
travels marked a period of deep dissatisfaction,
the movement for the expansion of the role of
both because they followed on the death of her
women in public life. These three expansions of father and because they highlighted the gap
service-learning’s history alone should make between her training and the possibilities available
Addams of interest to contemporary practitioners. to her as a middle-class woman with a higher edu-
But in addition to adding gender,practice,and part- cation (Lagemann,1994).
nership to service-learning’s history,Jane Addams’ Like many of her cohorts, Addams eventually
work is a valuable reminder that service-learning rebelled against the separation of women from the
public sphere. She did this by asserting that in
may be understood not only as an educational tech-
industrial society, the domestic, private work of
nique, but also as an agile approach to learning
women was inevitably public, and the public
whose greatest value is the unpredictable creativity
sphere inevitably influenced the quality of family
that it brings to public life.
life. No matter how spotless the home, urban
women could not keep their children well if sewage
Gender and the Origins of Service-Learning
ran in the streets; women forced by poverty to work
Jane Addams was born in 1860 and came of age in factories could never guarantee the virtuous
during a time of social, political, and intellectual upbringing of their children. Addams’urge to con-
upheaval. The assumptions that undergirded pre- nect the public and private,domestic and political,
Civil War America—that there ought to be rough is at the center of her work and thought (Elshtain,
economic equality between citizens, that agricul- 2000). It led Addams (1899/2002) to argue that
ture was central to American economic life, and charity,by making service to others a private affair,
that women were principally responsible for rais- was insufficient to the challenges that the commu-
ing and training their children—were all shaken nity faced. It drove her to found Hull House, a
after the Civil War. Industrialization opened huge place that was at once a home and a political cen-
gaps between the rich and poor even while it drew ter. And it determined the process by which she
rural and immigrant families to America’s bur- carried out her work. Addams constantly measured
geoning cities. Once there, women found that the her practice against both the stories of individual
possibility of factory work dismantled traditional women and the most significant political and edu-
assumptions about their proper work. Factories cational trends of her time (Seigfried,2002). It was
often recruited female workers,who could be paid through this reflective practice (Schon, 1983) that
lower salaries than their male colleagues. In turn, Addams and her colleagues developed the pro-
many women found factory work essential for their grams and ideas that form the core of today’s ser-
vice-learning practice.
family’s economic well-being.
In the industrial cities of the American North,
Practice, Culture, and Reflection
then, women found their roles in flux. On one
hand, traditional social and family expectations When Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr found-
were weakening. But on the other hand, political ed Hull House in Chicago in 1889, they saw its
and intellectual stereotypes of women held fast. work to be largely about providing cultural uplift to
Women were forbidden to vote,a move justified in the immigrant families who lived in the surround-
part by the intellectual position that men were, by ing neighborhoods. To this end they began,among
nature,public beings,while women were naturally other things,an art lending program,wherein Hull
more concerned with the private,domestic sphere. House loaned copies of paintings by European
The divergence between social roles and political masters to families for display in their tenements.
expectations of women was most obvious in edu- Addams was originally quite pleased with the lend-
cation. More girls attended school, more women ing program,bringing,as it did,some beauty to run-
became teachers,and more women entered college. down homes. Upon reflection, though, Addams and
But for college educated women in the late 19th Starr decided that uplift alone was not sufficient. Uplift
century, schooling was a mixed blessing. They imagined that immigrants carried no culture with
were certainly pleased to have access to college, them, an assumption that became immediately false
but a college education in a nation unprepared to once Hull House’s workers spent much time with their
open the public realm to women left them primed neighbors. Hull House quickly revised the way it made
for public work that they were not permitted to do decisions about programming, rejecting a top-down
(Addams, 1893/2002; Addams, 1898/1994; model for a collaborative one. Addams noted in 1895
Whipps,2000). that,“All the details were left for the demands of the
Jane Addams was among this generation of col- neighborhood to determine,and each department has
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Jane Addams and the Origins of Service-Learning Practice
grown from a discovery made through natural and rec- the basis of democracy, was not confined to Hull
iprocal relations”(Quoted in Lagemann,1994,p. 23). House’s cultural and social activities. It extended
Uplift also included false assumptions about the peo- also into Hull House’s educational work. Addams
ple providing the charity. By defining them as cultur- was always intensely interested in education, and
ally outside the community, it erected unnecessary in the 1890s and 1900s served on several formal
barriers between service-providers and recipients. and informal city-wide education commissions
Addams (1899/2002) put it this way, (Whipps,2000).
Addams argued that education,like service,need-
We find in ourselves the longing for a wider ed to be seen broadly,relationally,and publicly. She
union than that of family or class...but we fail to deliberately chose a community-based institution,
realize that all men are hoping; and are part of outside the university,to be the hub for these efforts.
the same movement of which we are a part. In part,this decision came because Hull House pro-
Many of the difficulties in philanthropy come vided enormous flexibility for educators. It spon-
from an unconscious division of the world into sored all sorts of learning—a kindergarten for immi-
the philanthropists and those to be helped. It is grant children,music school,drama training,citizen-
an assumption of two classes, and against this ship courses,courses on social science and cooking,
class assumption our democratic training revolts and general adult education courses.
as soon as we begin to act upon it. (p. 62) Addams’ choice of Hull House for her educa-
tional activities also grew out of a critique of high-
Finally,uplift privatized the effort to improve human
er education, not unlike that offered by service-
life. A copy of a Rembrandt hanging in one apart-
learning practitioners. This is not to say that
ment uplifted only those few people who entered the
Addams despised higher education. She lectured
apartment; a public lecture on Rembrandt could regularly at the University of Chicago and the
reach hundreds. University of Wisconsin, and welcomed faculty
Hull House maintained its art lending program. and students from local schools to join with Hull
But as Addams, Hull House workers, and their House in carrying out research on poverty,working
neighbors worked to improve the whole communi- conditions, and health issues in Chicago. But
ty,they added to the lending program a huge list of Addams resisted all attempts to get her to join any
other cultural events lectures, plays, concerts, and university and remained at Hull House for her
museum exhibits. These additional cultural activi- entire life (Davis,1973).
ties made Hull House one of the preeminent cul- Addams’unwillingness to join a university grew
tural centers in Chicago. Of course, Hull House’s out of her understanding of the unique role that set-
work was not limited to hosting cultural events. On tlements could play in the creation of knowledge.
the contrary, it was involved in service, politics, Addams (1899/1994) wrote,
and research over many years. Hull House created
the first public playground in Chicago, the first As the college changed from teaching theolo-
kindergarten, citizenship classes, English classes, gy to teaching secular knowledge the test of its
and Labor Museum. Hull House residents and success should have shifted from the power to
neighbors fought for clean streets,child labor laws, save men’s souls to the power to adjust them in
and campaigned against corrupt politicians. And healthful relations to nature and their fellow
the women of Hull House worked with the men. But the college failed to do this, and
University of Chicago to conduct the first socio- made the test of its success the mere collecting
logical investigation of a neighborhood with Hull and disseminating of knowledge,elevating the
House Maps and Papersin 1895,which is also pio- means into an end and falling in love with its
neering work in the area of community asset-map- own achievement. (p. 90)
ping (McKnight,1995).
Addams argued that the settlement, on the other
All of these activities,by their natures,aimed to
hand,stands for “application as opposed to research;
do good. But Addams also understood them as a
for emotion as opposed to abstraction; for universal
way for participants to have the experience of
interest as opposed to specialization” (p. 78). For
working with people unlike themselves (Seigfried,
Addams, who believed so strongly in the signifi-
1999). This storehouse of experiences,and the sto-
cance of personal experience, any institution that
ries that resulted from them, were, in Addams’
gave itself over to research,abstraction,and special-
eyes,the social basis of democracy. They reminded
ization was an institution that failed to support
individuals, whoever they were, that the stories of
democracy. She worried that the university would
their individual lives were valuable, and they
“swallow the settlement and turn it into one more
reminded those same people that their lives were
laboratory: another place in which to analyze and
not full without real experience engaging in the
depict,to observe and record”(p. 88).
lives of others.
Hull House provided a learning model outside
Partnership: Education in the Community the school for children and adults that crossed the
lines of race, class, language, and educational
Addams’belief,that personal experience formed achievement. Addams (1902/2002) wrote, “If we
7
Daynes and Longo
admit that in education it is necessary to begin with the skills they had developed as young people in
the experiences which the child already has and to their homelands. By so doing it recognized and cel-
use his spontaneous and social activity, then the ebrated the talents and crafts of immigrants in the
city streets begin this education for him in a more neighborhood surrounding Hull House. It was a
natural way than does the school”(p. 83). revolutionary idea that attempted to create an alter-
Hull House’s reputation as a center for social native to the alienating labor forced upon new
work has led many to overlook its role as an edu- immigrants in the United States. It also provides a
cational institution. Part of that role consisted of model of how to structure intergenerational pro-
offering classes. But an equally important part con- grams that help children see their immigrant par-
sisted of acting as a mediating institution or com- ents’contributions and talents. Addams often told a
munity connector. Hull House connected the com- story to this end: “Angelina Discovering Her
munity to schools, colleges, and universities. Mother’s Talents—and Her Own Heritage.”
Addams often described this work as bringing into Addams wrote:
the circle of knowledge and fuller life, men and
women who might otherwise be left outside. She I recall a certain Italian girl who came every
(1892/1965) wrote: Saturday evening to a cooking class in the
same building in which her mother spun in the
Perhaps the chief value of a Settlement to its Labor Museum exhibit; and yet Angela always
neighborhood, certainly to the newly arrived left her mother at the front door because she
foreigner, is its office as an information and did not wish to be too closely identified in the
interpretation bureau. It sometimes seems as if eyes of the rest of the cooking class with an
the business of the settlement were that of a Italian woman who wore a kerchief over her
commission merchant. Without endowment head,uncouth boots,and short petticoats. One
and without capital itself, it constantly acts evening, however, Angelina saw her mother
between the various institutions of the city and surrounded by a group of visitors [teachers]
the people for whose benefit these institutions from the School of Education [of the
were erected. The hospitals,the country agen- University of Chicago],who much admired the
cies, and State asylums are often but vague spinning, and she concluded from their con-
rumors to people who need them most. This versation that her mother was “the best stick-
commission work,as I take it,is of value not spindle spinner in America.” When she
only to the recipient, but to the institutions inquired from me as to the truth of this deduc-
themselves. (p. 54) tion,I took occasion to describe the Italian vil-
lage in which her mother had lived,something
The relational “commission work” of the settle-
of her free life,and how,because of the oppor-
ment house led residents to connect with local pol-
tunity she and the other women of the village
itics, lead reforms in city hall, work with public
had to drop their spindles over the edge of a
schools and universities, and connect immigrant
precipice, they had developed a skill in spin-
residents to other much-needed community institu-
tions. Settlement workers recognized the need to ning beyond that of the neighboring towns...
“be local” (Smith, 1994) and aware of neighbor- It was easy to see that the thought of her
hood needs and assets. Addams claimed that their mother with any other background than that of
settlement house residents’ unique role in the the tenement was new to Angelina and at least
neighborhood allowed them to see institutions two things resulted; she allowed her mother to
from the perspective or lived-realities of ordinary pull out of the big box under the bed the beau-
neighborhood residents. tiful homespun garments which had been pre-
Partnership with her fellow community members viously hidden away as uncouth; and she open-
took on a deep meaning for Addams. She learned ly came into the Labor Museum by the same
early on that outsiders often made assumptions about door as did her mother, proud at least of the
Hull House’s neighbors, referred to as “those peo- mastery of the craft which had been so much
ple.”While Addams might refute those assumptions admired. (Elshtain,2000,p. 145)
by herself, she preferred giving “those people” an
We can imagine that Angela’s experience was quite
opportunity to speak for themselves. Thus,Addams
normal for people coming to the Labor Museum; like
(1906) never addressed a Chicago audience about the
Hull House itself,the Labor Museum brought people
settlement and surrounding community without
who were not able to fully participate in democracy-
inviting a neighbor to go along so that she “might
immigrants,poor people,young people,women,and
curb any hasty generalization by the consciousness
even academics-and widened the circle of enlighten-
that I had an auditor who knew the conditions more
ment by “freeing the power” within and connecting
intimately than I could hope to do”(p. 14).
them to public life (Addams,1902/2002).
Hull House’s model of education, based in the
students’experiences and own voices,was perhaps Addams and Dewey
best evident in the Hull House Labor Museum. The
Labor Museum employed aged women to practice One of the people who Addams helped bring into
8
Jane Addams and the Origins of Service-Learning Practice
that circle was John Dewey, who is often seen as settlement house of its time. Addams became a
the founding figure of service-learning. Addams’ national spokesperson for this movement, and,
educational practices had a profound impact on based on that renown, an international activist for
Dewey,who visited Hull House in 1891,before he peace. The settlement idea spread rapidly. In 1891,
joined the faculty at the University of Chicago. two years after the founding of Hull House, there
This was early in the days of Hull House, and the were 6 settlements in the United States; by 1897
young Dewey, then 32 (Addams was 31), came there were 74. The number quickly jumped to 100
away impressed. After that visit, Dewey (1892) in 1900,doubled to 200 in 1905,and doubled again
wrote to Addams, to more than 400 by 1910 (Davis, 1973).
Settlements addressed serious societal issues at the
I cannot tell you how much good I got from the turn of the century, including rapid industrializa-
stay at Hull House. My indebtedness to you for tion, urbanization, a large increase of non-English
giving me an insight into matters there is great. speaking immigrants from Europe, poverty, child
. . .Every day I stayed there only added to my labor, sickness, and political corruption. They cre-
conviction that you had taken the right way. ated the opportunity for upper-class women to see
(personal communication,January 27) for themselves the “objective” issues in low-
income immigrant communities. Settlements also
Dewey concluded by predicting that other communi-
gave a practical outlet for addressing the “subjec-
ty institutions would apply the experiential educa-
tive”need for young,idealistic women to work for
tional approach being used by Hull House. “I am
social change. They built rich partnerships between
confident that 25 years from now the forces now
communities,activists,and academics.
turned in upon themselves in various church and
The partnership between Addams and Dewey
c[ommunity] agencies will be finding outlet very
was but one such relationship that emerged
largely just such channels as you have opened.”This
between women who ran settlement houses and
cemented a life-long friendship and reciprocal part-
(mostly male) university faculty members. If the
nership. Dewey became a regular visitor,lectured at
authors are correct in asserting that these partner-
Hull House’s Plato Club,and to the University exten-
ships were one of the origins of service-learning
sion classes taught there. He also became a member
practice, then it follows that service-learning
of Hull House’s original Board of Trustees in 1897
researchers need to pay close attention to service-
and later named his daughter after Addams.
learning’s gendered origins. Gender is particularly
In some ways it would be counterproductive to
important for understanding Addams’ views on
claim that Addams was more important than
democracy. Addams and her cohorts in the settle-
Dewey, or that her work preceded his. They saw
ment house movement were among the first gener-
themselves as part of the same circle, working on
ation of college-educated women in the United
the same problems from different angles.
States. They understood their educations as placing
Christopher Lasch (1965), Addams’ first posthu-
upon them the obligation of improving the public
mous academic champion,wrote that “It is difficult
sphere. But in a system where women were not
to say whether Dewey influenced Jane Addams or
enfranchised with the right to vote, their influence
Jane Addams influenced Dewey. They influenced
on the formal aspects of democracy was blunted.
each other and generously acknowledged their
In response,Addams developed an understand-
mutual obligations” (p.176). Nonetheless, it is
ing of the public sphere significantly different from
worth pointing out that two of Dewey’s major
that emerging from America’s universities.
works of educational philosophy, “The School as
Progressive-era academics increasingly described
Social Centre” (1902/1976) and Democracy and
education,society,and democracy in a formal way,
Education (1916), were heavily influenced by his
as scientific systems: predictable, classifiable,
experience at Hull House. In his most direct attri-
understandable through experimental study, and
bution to Hull House as a model for educational
best led by experts. Addams rejected this notion
practice in “The School as a Social Settlement,”
entirely. Instead,she understood education,society,
Dewey (Dewey & Dewey, 1915/2003) wrote,
and democracy as creative systems:unpredictable,
“Closer contact with neighborhood conditions not
understandable through experience and reflection,
only enriches school work and strengthens motive
and open to leaders of all sorts. This is what
force in the pupils,but it increases the service ren-
Addams (1910/1998) meant when she described
dered to the community” (p. 205-206). The
the settlement as a “protest against a restricted view
philosopher Charlene Haddock Seigfried (1999)
of education”(p. 175).
tellingly notes that Dewey’s ideal community, a
Tensions between scientific and creative under-
“mode of associated living, or conjoint communi-
standings of education, society, and democracy
cated experience” (p. 213), was first made real at
continue to the present in the service-learning
Hull House before he put its essence on the page.
movement. While much of the movement’s rhetoric
Applications mirrors Addams’views,much of its work is closer
to her adversaries in the universities. Service-learn-
Hull House went on to become the most famous ing researchers increasingly seek quasi-scientific
9
Daynes and Longo
ways to assess service-learning,while practitioners core of The Long Road of Woman’s Memory
look for techniques that will produce predictable (1916/2002). These event narratives in turn were
outcomes. The authors understand the appeal and the basis for programs, which changed regularly,
contribution of scientific conceptions of education. and conceptions of society, which, for Addams,
But we suggest that examining Jane Addams’role were quite stable. Service-learning could profit
in the origins of service-learning leads to several from Addams attention to brief events and their
lessons that can only be learned through conceiving long-term implications.
of service-learning as creative and relational, not Events were central to the way Addams learned,
formal and scientific. but her own endurance at Hull House was central to
Addams is more than an important historical fig- its success. Once she was completely committed to
ure in shaping service-learning practice; revisiting Hull House in 1889,she lived there until her death
the work of Hull House can help address some of in 1935. Hull House’s success depended on her
the most difficult issues for service-learning work: endurance there; the partnerships Hull House built
the problem of time, space and place, service vs. relied both on good structure and the long-term
activism, and the apolitical and disempowering commitment of core staff to those partnerships.
tendencies in the practice and language of service. Today, where service-learning offices are often
Because Addams comes at each of these issues grant-funded, nonprofits face tenuous existences,
from the community,rather than the university per- and staff turnover is high, Addams’ example is a
spective, she is able to see the issues differently. reminder of how important long-term personal
Addams’ example can provide much guidance to commitments are to the work in a particular place.
contemporary service-learning practice.
The “Problems”of Place and Space
The “Problem”of Time
Service-learning is increasingly program-driven.
University education is built upon numerous arti- That is, funders, universities, nonprofits, and their
ficial constructions of time. Students take classes in staffs work to create programs that effectively
credit hours,courses are offered in terms,students respond to problems. Though in their application,
take final examinations and graduate after amass- programs can be localized,in their conception they
ing enough hours over enough terms at the univer- tend to be generalized—sets of practices or princi-
sity. These ways of thinking about time grow out of ples that can, in theory, be applied anywhere.
a scientific conception of learning. John Tagg Addams’work was not program-driven. Certainly
(2003) suggests that common conceptions of time she and her coworkers organized many programs,
in higher education result in a limited “time hori- as discussed in this article. But these programs
zon,” that is, students and teachers think they will emerged from a particular place,Chicago. And the
have to live with the consequences of their actions programs emerged from a particular space, the
at school for only a brief time. open, welcoming, experimental, permanent loca-
University-based conceptions of time and stu- tion of Hull House. Hull House could hold all sorts
dents’limited time horizon have long been problems of activities,and teach all sorts of classes. It could
in service-learning. They manifest themselves in withstand changes in staff and program. Its perma-
questions about how many hours of service-learning nence held practical and symbolic importance in
are sufficient,and in efforts to assess the outcomes of the community. People came to Hull House when
service based on the number of hours volunteered. their own homes burned down; organizations look-
University-based time constraints also show them- ing to be born found shelter there. If Hull House is
selves in the difficult work of establishing a long- an example today,it is of how important a physical
term partnership when students will be cycling space can be for collaboration and service, espe-
through short-term service assignments at partner cially in pursuit of civic education.
organizations on a regular basis (Wallace,2000).
The “Problem”of Activism vs. Service
Responses to the problem of time often take two
paths: to encourage students (often through incen- One of the fiercest debates during the past two
tives such as pay or university credit) to continue to decades in service-learning has been the question of
serve once a particular course is over,and to create whether educators should encourage and support char-
partnerships that can endure after they leave. Both itable service or political activism (sometimes referred
of these approaches work within the university’s to as social change) among students. Many argue that
model of time. Addams’ work suggests a third, direct service is an important place to start, but not
complementary approach,one that uses a different enough in itself:service must lead across a hierarchi-
model of time. Her model is at once attuned to very cal continuum to political activism. The Corporation
brief and very long periods of time. For Addams, for National and Community Service, on the other
important insights came from events—brief hand,has made this continuum difficult to pursue by
moments that exemplified significant facts. notably excluding political activism from an accept-
Addams used these events as the basis for narra- able activity that can be supported with its funds.
tives,such as “Angelina Discovering Her Mother’s Morton (1995) argues that charitable service and polit-
Talents,”related above,or the “Devil Baby”at the ical activism are both important pieces,but what mat-
10
Jane Addams and the Origins of Service-Learning Practice
ters most is the integrity and movement toward depth middle class progressive reformers than corrupt ward
in either approach. bosses she fought all of her life, because the ward
Hull House also made it possible for Addams to bosses were at least democratic in method,not leav-
bridge the divide between service and activism. ing government to the “experts.” And, unlike the
Being anchored in a neighborhood made face-to- reformers,the corrupt politicians were “engaged in the
face service possible. Moreover, as a civic space great moral effort of getting the mass to express itself,
and a mediating institution,Hull House was a con- and of adding this mass energy and wisdom to the
stant reminder that service was inseparable from community as a whole”(Addams,1902/2002,p. 118).
political action. Hull House allowed ordinary people to con-
While Addams (1899/2002) was an outspoken tribute their talents and skills to the common lot,as
critic of charitable service even in the work at Hull is evident in the Labor Museum,which celebrated,
House, service vs. activism was a non-issue there honored, and utilized immigrants’skills. Addams’
precisely because of the long-term commitment to philosophy did not view service-learning as a pro-
democratic practice. Hull House was involved in gram to deliver services to the less fortunate; ser-
direct charity addressing the needs of neighbor- vice-learning,Addams believed,was the obligation
hood individuals (English classes, day care, food) of citizenship being co-created by those with mutu-
and involved in political activism (protesting child al interests. Addams took this lesson from her early
labor, hosting organized labor, campaigning visit to Toynbee Hall in London. Canon Barnett,
against corrupt politicians). It was never an “either- who founded the first settlement house, described
or”choice,partly because decisions were not made
the distinguishing feature of Toynbee Hall and the
on university calendars, grant cycles, or funders’
settlement movement as, “the absence of program
interests. Hull House was committed to addressing
and the presence of men and women who recog-
neighborhood problems, whether they were essen-
nize the obligations of citizenship” (Barnett &
tial needs or structural reform. In terms of a long-
Barnett,1909,p. 286).
term commitment, all issues were seen in a larger
Again,it is important to see the response to these
democratic context of public problem-solving.
critics in the creative and relational elements of the
Addams often said that Hull House was about cre-
work at Hull House. Just after starting Hull House
ating a vibrant democracy,with a diverse group of
in 1892,Addams (1893/2002) said:
people contributing their talents to the common lot.
As she states in Democracy and Social Ethics,“this The one thing to be dreaded in the Settlement is
is the penalty of democracy: that we are bound to that it lose its flexibility,its power of quick adap-
move retrograde or forward together. None of us tation,its readiness to change its methods as its
can stand aside”(1902/2002,p. 112). environments may demand....It must be hos-
pitable and ready to experiment....It must be
The “Problem”of Service
founded on the solidarity of the human
Some of the harshest criticisms of service-learning race....[Its residents] must be content to live qui-
have come from public intellectuals who, like etly side by side with their neighbors until they
Addams, approach campus-community partnerships grow into a sense of relationship and mutual
with a community perspective and political orienta- interests....In short, residents are pledged to
tion. Harry Boyte,(forthcoming,2004) codirector of devote themselves to the duties of good citizen-
the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the ship and to arousing of the social energies which
University of Minnesota,for instance,contends that too largely lie dormant in every neighborhood
service-learning routinely “neglects to teach about given over to industrialism. (p. 26)
root causes and power relationships, fails to stress
productive impact, ignores politics, and downplays The by-products of industrialization from the
the strengths and talents of those being served” (p. turn of the 20th century are more pervasive today
12). Moreover, the paradigmatic stance of service, than ever,manifesting themselves in the commodi-
Boyte argues,is the “outside expert.”Likewise,John fication of society and spread of marketplace val-
McKnight (1995) of the Asset-Based Community ues in education. Moreover, the “scientific” civic
Development Institute at Northwestern University, and educational assumptions born in the industrial
critiques the professional nature of service provision age remain largely in force. Addams, whose work
which views people in communities for their defi- responded to these conditions with flexibility and
ciencies,rather than their assets. creativity,thus continues to provide good guidance
Addams (1899/2002), who worried about the today. Her emphasis on narrative and relationship
“problems of a charitable orientation,” would cer- over statistics and programs, and her ability to
tainly be sympathetic to these criticisms. Addams make good on the promise of collaboration among
was a generalist,and a critic of the trend towards pro- diverse people should impel others to greater agili-
fessionalization that progressives bequeathed to ty and wisdom in service-learning work, and pro-
higher education in the early 20th century (Lasch, vide hope that service-learning can be more than a
1995). Addams was also suspicious of expert-driven program and contribute greatly to building a
solutions; for instance,Addams was more critical of vibrant democracy.
11
Daynes and Longo
Note Dewey,J. (1892). Personal Communication. January 27.
Rockford,IL. Rockford College Archives.
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Dewey,J. (1916). Democracy and education. New York:
2003 International Conference on Service-Learning in The Macmillan Company.
Salt Lake City. We wish to thank Rick Battistoni, Dick
Dewey,J. (1976). The school as a social centre. The mid-
Cone,Dwight Giles,Abby Kiesa,Peter Levine,Kathryn
dle works,1899-1924(Vol. 2,pp. 80-93). Carbondale,
Mackay, Keith Morton, and John Saltmarsh for their
IL:Southern Illinois University Press.
helpful comments on an earlier draft.
Dewey, J., & Dewey, E. (2003). The school as a settle-
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Authors
GARY DAYNES is the associate director of
Freshman Academy,a learning communities initia-
tive at Brigham Young University. He holds a Ph.D
in History from the University of Delaware, and
has taught history courses at Brigham Young
University and Western Washington University. He
has served as director of Service-Learning at
Washington Campus Compact and as the executive
director of Utah Campus Compact. He is currently
a National Campus Compact Civic Scholar.
NICHOLAS V. LONGO is a doctoral candidate
in the University of Minnesota’s School of
Education. The former national student coordinator
at Campus Compact, Nick is currently writing his
dissertation on community education and the role
of community in the civic mission of schools with
funding from the Center for Information and
Research on Civic Learning and Engagement
(CIRCLE). Nick is also co-editing two books that
will be published in winter 2005, Colleges with a
Conscienceand Students as Colleagues.
13