To The Stanford Daily

Service learning – and its soul mate, civic engagement – is the new “case study,” a fundamentally new paradigm in education. It is not new in the sense that it has never been employed in the past, but rather the gathering momentum to make service a standard component of education – and a standard for educational excellence – signals a new era of community involvement by institutions of higher education. In accepting a leadership role at the Haas Center, Dr. Garcia is to be congratulated for joining Leland and Jane Lathrop Stanford in seeing that college is not just the door to a prosperous future, but also the beginning of a “lifelong commitment to service,” in Dr. Garcia’s words.

President Jimmy Carter has said: “Our centers of higher education must teach students the value of service and how to work in partnership with their communities to decrease the gap between those who have the means and those less fortunate who lack the means or training to be effective in serving others. This community engagement by our campuses can help reduce the chasm between the rich and the poor by serving as a tool for economic development. Higher education has the responsibility to train and serve our young people to become better citizens by engaging them in academic community civic programs.”

Stanford, Dr. Garcia and the Haas Center are taking a position at the crest of this new wave of service learning, and deserve all our support and encouragement.

Dr. Robert Heightchew
Executive Director
The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Partnership Foundation