Possibilities and Limitations of Character Education in Higher Education－A Case Study of Student Experience in a Service Learning Course

Abstract

This research explores the possibilities and limitations of character education through analyzing the ways in which students experience a service learning course in higher education. Drawing on a set of data collected from running the ‘Freedom Project’, and through conducting semi-structured interviews with 11 students who have taken this course, we found that students were oscillating between the ideal world that the course presents and emphasizes through its curriculum and the real world, wherein competition and survival are the dominant values. Although students were fragmented and sensitive to grades given in the university environment, they actively explored diverse social problems to which they tried to find solutions. Moreover, they were able to obtain various competencies that character education aims to cultivate through the process of completing their project. However, some students distanced themselves from the values the course attempted to pursue, in response to neoliberal requirements.