The CEA Forum - Winter/Spring 2007 - Special Section: Empathy and Ethics - Mission and Monastery - Empathy, Ethics, and the Challenges of Two Community-Based Courses - Joyce Meier

Oct 15, 2026

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Winter/Spring 2007 special section “Empathy and Ethics” presents “Mission and Monastery: Empathy, Ethics, and the Challenges of Two Community-Based Courses” by Joyce Meier. It argues that community-based courses cultivate empathy that can strengthen civic literacy and social trust, while also creating ethical challenges. The discussion contrasts the field “mission” and office “monastery” roles, showing how engagement shapes empathetic identification and the quality of student writing. It further links empathy to critical thinking and examines how empathy evolves through relationships and teaching design.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

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Special Section: Empathy and Ethics

Mission and Monastery: Empathy, Ethics, and the Challenges of Two Community-Based Courses

Building empathy through community-based cross-dialogue

Balancing field “mission” and office “monastery” work

Empathy as part of intellectual and ethical learning

Empathetic accuracy, relationships, and power dynamics

Ethical risks and learning when field access is limited

The CEA Forum Winter/Spring 2007: 36.1 SPECIAL SECTION: EMPATHY AND ETHICS MISSION AND MONASTERY: EMPATHY, ETHICS, AND THE CHALLENGES OF TWO COMMUNITY-BASED COURSES Joyce Meier By their very nature, courses that contain a community-based component invite opportunities for the practice of empathy, whereby students come to identify with their community partners (such as the low-income children they tutor, the elders they interview) . In fact, the building of empathy through the cross-dialogue often catalyzed by such classes has been touted as crucial in the practice of civic literacy. David Schoem, for example, argues that participatory democracies such as ours require individuals be able to bridge the spectrum of social differences, while others claim the ability to consider an issue from another person's point of view is necessary for individuals to invent arguments that make sense to someone else. [ 1] Yet the typical undergraduate experience does not often provide enough opportunities for the kind of “democratic exchange” that would build trust, especially across racial and/or socioeconomic lines. As Schoem argues,“Many of the young people entering our colleges and professional schools have grown up in gated communities and segregated schools, and they continue that pattern of separation at college through membership in monoracial and monoclass fraternities and sororities”(16) . For these writers, the community-based course provides an opportunity to build such empathy, which engenders the social trust necessary for democratic practices. Having taught at least two kinds of community-based courses, I can testify to the empathy such courses encourage. However, I have also found that the quality of the empathetic experience and the consequent student writing, as well as corresponding ethical challenges, can differ significantly depending on whether the student is more involved in the “mission”(that is, in the field) or “monastery” side (at the computer or office) side of community work. To put it another way, whether the student-missionary is engaged in tutoring homeless children or is writing a grant proposal in the organization's office affects the degree of empathetic identification the student feels; and even, the quality of the writing she produces. My argument is that the community-based course requires a balance of field and office, of mission and monastery. Teachers such as myself must strategize and intervene, to ensure that the “missionaries” get a sense of the overall systemic practices, policies, and interventions that can and will affect their community partners, while the “monks” need a hefty share of the work in the field: through learning they get from their peers, field trips, readings, and guest speakers, as well as in the community itself. The claim that empathy is integral to the intellectual and ethical work of the community-based class represents a gestalt shift in the very concept of how feelings work in the classroom. The claim for empathy runs counter to certain philosophical traditions, for example, the assertion of Socrates (in the Crito) that to make a moral decision, one must use reason and avoid the influence of the emotions, or the Kantian view that if action is based on the feeling of altruism, then it has no moral value (Gallo 48-49) . Instead, recent practitioners of the community-based course have placed feelings at the heart of student learning; they link empathy to the university's public mission of citizenship and participatory democracy; they assert that the empathy engendered through community interactions fosters “critical and creative thinking,” especially through what is alternately called role-playing or perspective-taking (Gallo 44) . Thus, rather than being seen as separate from thought, empathy is tied to critical thinking. As critics such as David Bleich remind us, feelings have always been an integral part of the development of human thought. In the first of m

FAQs

Why do community-based courses create opportunities for empathy?

They invite students to identify with community partners through cross-dialogue and sustained interaction. This practice is portrayed as crucial for civic literacy and democratic exchange.

How does the “mission” versus “monastery” balance affect student learning?

The text argues that empathy and student writing quality depend on whether students are more involved in fieldwork or office tasks. It concludes that community-based courses require a balance, with field engagement and systemic understanding on both sides.

How does the article connect empathy to ethical and intellectual work in the classroom?

It reframes empathy as central to learning rather than separate from thought, linking it to critical and creative thinking. The discussion contrasts this with traditions that prioritize reason over emotions.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by SANS