Irving Babbitt and the Service-Learning Ethic: An Early Critique of Deweyan Progressivism

Abstract

Service- learning has become an integral component of American education, and scholars continue to debate its definition, purposes, and outcomes. Service- learning in the classroom is not without critics at present, however. This article provides an introductory examination of Irving Babbitt’s critiques of the service- learning ethic at its inception in the beginning of the 20th century, particularly of the ideas espoused by John Dewey. This consideration offers an incisive perspective on the service- learning ethic (and its critiques) in our own time.