Reflections on work experience and community

Abstract

A series of ‘Community Involvement’ courses were developed at Toronto since 1970. In them, students spent time in the field as interns. Their purpose was generally to develop a critical awareness of the city society and organisations, to give job experience and career exploration, and to foster community development by making connections into the activities of the city. These courses have now been discontinued, apparently because they were not sufficiently conventional, and as a result a critical edge of academic life has been dulled.