Sun 1

Sun, Joshua

LBST 2215 Citizenship

Dr. Childers-McKee

6 September 2017

Why do Community Engaged Research?

My understanding of Community Engaged Research comes from bits and pieces of

several articles that I read. In the article, Origins and Principles of Community-Based

Research, the writer describes society as having a narrow definition of scholarship. Strand says

that societys current definition of scholarship is based upon the pursuit of new

knowledgeand science of discovery (9/6/17 Strand 2), but he emphasizes the importance of

different types of scholarship including the scholarship of integration, or application, and of

pedagogy. Strand pointed out some things that opened my eyes to the flaws in our education

system that are directly correlated with the reasons he states for conducting community outreach:

(1) higher education tends to disconnect from the community and (2) higher education is failing

in efforts to prepare students for lives outside of school and into the community. I strongly agree

with Strand as I reflect on the way I was taught community service; I am afraid that I was a part

of the system that pushed students away from truly understanding the community around them.

In high school, teachers and clubs made community service a mandatory event for students to

participate in to stay in the club. So, the primary motivation of community service did not drive

us to want to truly understand the community and its issues. I would participate in the events and

forget about what they did in a span of a week. Similar to what Bruce Herzberg said in his

article, Community Service and Critical Thinking, community service could work in a larger

way as a kind of voluntary band-aiding of social problems that not only ignores the causes of
 Sun 2

problems but lets off the hook those responsible for the problems (9/6/17 Herzberg 139). The

school system I grew up in enforced community service but does not care to talk about the issues

surrounding it such as why the issue exists, what organizations are doing, how to truly engage

ourselves instead of being lackadaisical in how we approach community service. On the other

hand, Strand talks about the goals of community-based research: (1) it is a collaborative

enterprise between academic researchers, (2) it validates multiple sources of knowledge and

promotes the use of multiple methods of discovery (9/6/17 Strand 4), and (3) its goal is to

initiate social action and change for the purpose of social justice. I find it very extraordinary to

have a teacher facilitate and guide the interactions between students and community members

during the research process. A class such as Citizenship that is solely devoted to researching the

community issues around us and focusing on trying to help one organization is something

unheard of in the high school community.

Tying all these flaws in the education system, the flaws in community service, and the

goals of community-based research I believe, based on the readings, that community-based

research is an ongoing discussion and a building of a relationship between students and

community members that the teacher facilitates. I really like the idea of having a teacher point

me in a direction and connecting me with a community member that I would have never found

myself. I think that community engaged research has a lot of good qualities.

The pros include that during this process, students would learn how to communicate with

different people from various backgrounds, students would learn more about the community they

live in, they would learn life lessons that can help them have success in the futures, and they

would know what options they have if they have trouble in the future. They would also learn

how to research something that has no given answer; we always want accurate, unambiguous
 Sun 3

answers. Researching community issues may never provide an answer; there are way to many

factors that influence the problems in society. However, this experience can allow students to

learn more about the issues and find out ways they truly can impact the community. The cons are

the grading system. I do not think a class like this should have a grade because then the

motivation of the students to dedicate time to research problems in the community would come

from the grade they want to earn. After the class is over, the discussions and relationships

between the community are cut off.

I do not know the answer of how the research and class should be organized, but I believe

that this is a good idea especially to start at a young age. The current school system tells us to

work hard, to think for ourselves and to fight for grades, but in reality, they could be producing

people who want to connect and bring up the community in a positive way.