An Analysis Of Gender And Major Differences Upon Undergraduate Student Attitudes About Community Service Learning

Abstract

Community Service Learning (CSL) believes that university and colleges should incorporate community based service projects into courses. There are faculty and administrator supporters who argue for such proposals to require community service learning components into classes, but there are also faculty and administrator critics of such proposals.

The focus of this study was to examine the attitudes of undergraduate students on community service learning. A questionnaire was given to students at a private university in Southern California to see if statistically significant differences in attitudes could be found based upon: gender, class level, major, and any prior high school community service experience. In particular, the study focuses upon the differences in attitudes between business and non-business majors as there is a perception by some non-business faculty that business students are more focused upon self-interest rather than concern for social problems.

The paper reports the findings of this study and offers policy implications/recommendations for faculty and administrators.