Meredith Pyle

ArtE 302- Delacruz

Talking Points #2

Chapter 7, Community and World Connections through Service-Learning, Taylor

o “The work was homage to the power of nature.”

o Connecting to nature, helping and not hindering, recycling,
environmental awareness, ritual- habit to be eco-friendly
o Art gardens take time, many hours and hands, thinking, planning, and working
together- collaborative community service and art-based service learning
o “Dewey explained that all genuine education came about through connective
experience involving observation, knowledge, and judgment with each being
highly subjective, personal, and experiential.”
o “the essential point is that education grows through a process of social
intelligence.”
o “one main goal of service-learning is to instill an enduring sense of civic
responsibility.”
o Service learning projects- work with and for the community
o Designed to enhance curriculum and standards of course subject
o The keystone is reflection- writing, exhibition, and critique
o Include in testing to reinforce the learned subject
o “The hope is that once students experience the self-satisfaction that comes from
cooperative service, they will make a conscious effort to involve themselves in
future community long after they graduate. Ideally, service programs ‘help
students identify, acknowledge, strengthen, and utilize their voices to help
bring about positive and lasting social justice.”

Commentary- Art Education in Civil Society, Delacruz

o “…philosophers and political scientists have used the term civil society to
designate those elements and social arrangements between people and society that
exist outside the state’s reach or instigation.”
o (recent years) “… alliances that challenge both repressive governments
worldwide and corrupt trans-national corporations.”
o “realm of private voluntary associations working toward the public
good”
o Schools were - potluck dinners and reading groups – and now are - gated
communities and information overload.
o Boyte terms these changes as “phenomenology of powerlessness,” a sense
of disengagement, ineffectualness, and alienation.”
o “Art education can play a vital role in the development of communal identity,
compassion toward others, and civic engagement.”
o Convey personal meanings and values about life
o In school community- bonding
o Connections between individuals and varying cultures- values, interests