Servant Class: Basic Writers and Service Learning

<p>This article examines some of the tensions and contradictions between the process-oriented, learning-centered pedagogy commonly associated with basic writing and the product-based, performance-centered moment mandated by writing-for-the-community varieties of service learning. Because end-of-term "writing-for" projects cannot provide students with nearly as much opportunity to reflect on their practice and also to work through the narcissistic moment that academic discourse typically demands, it is suggested that students in basic writing classes would be better served by additional work in academic discourse rather than by being made servants by writing-for-the-community service-learning projects. Writing-for projects remove the students from the problems they would solve, whereas continued work in academic discourse encourages students to see themselves in the problems, the image of otherness helping them reflect on the new problems their solutions create.</p>