Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1998

Volume

31

Issue

3

Publication Title

PS: Political Science & Politics

First Page

557

Last Page

561

Abstract

As an urban politics teacher, I discerned a disconnect between what I said about urban politics and what my students understood. Although I offered a variety of perspectives, I nonetheless felt that students were coming to class, and leaving class, with their opinions -- liberal, conservative, and in-between -- formed. Because of the constraints on dialogue about urban politics, I decided to develop a service learning project focusing on urban homelessness and housing. The project would combine elements of a typical undergraduate course and a participant observation project. I wanted a setting in which the students and I would learn together about urban policy problems and better understand their complexity. The shared experience of working in an urban neighborhood for a week would, in a sense, serve as a text, although this "text" would be experienced and discussed contemporaneously.

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