(I've been saving as I go, FYI, so I don't accidently lose all of this that I'm writing. Sorry if you didn't want such a detailed response, by the way.)

At this point, I've yet to state my point of view, though.

Community development, in my mind, is a part of community service, which is why I focused on the broader issue. In my mind, college is about opening students' minds to new ideas. It's about giving them the tools to lead thoughtful and productive lives of their choosing. And while almost all instructors have some kind of agenda (it's hard not to as we're all human and have our own point of view), I don't think college should be a place where an agenda is the focus of the school itself.

Then again, I take that back. In opening students' minds, I think intrinsic in that is our teaching students how to be accepting of other points of views and willing to acknowledge that there is more than one answer to so many questions. Intrinsic in education itself is the point of view that learning and teaching are both good things and that curiosity and a thirst for knowledge should both be embraced and encouraged. And with all of this comes the fact that we, as humans, need to help each other attain our goals. My job as a teacher is to help my students. Students, when studying together, help each other learn. It's within this helping attain goals that communities and bonds are formed. Community development, then could be said to be necessary in education in that they're developing their own communities on a continuous basis.

You, of course, were speaking of community development of a different sort, though. With that type of community development (and community service in general) in mind, my answer has to be that it belongs in education when it suits the needs of the lessons that need to be learned. In my developmental English classes, adding a community service component of any kind would be detrimental to the class, as the students already have their hands full with learning how to construct a correct sentence. Classes in sociology, though, would most likely benefit from focusing in part on community development.

My main concern is that education doesn't become secondary to the community development.

I hope that all makes sense and is at least in part what you were looking for as a response!

Also, I have to admit that I haven't been on O.net for quite some time. Your PM, though, brought me back as I agree that this is a necessary topic to discuss.

Good luck on your dissertation proposal!

:) Kim