Abstract
This qualitative, phenomenological study examined how an Augustinian, Catholic, secondary school in the Northeastern United States helped students develop and learn empathy through its Christian Service Program and curriculum. The name of the school is not listed in this study to preserve anonymity; St. Austin’s Prep is used as a pseudonym. Since the turn of the millennium empathy been a part of discourse in fields ranging from biology to business. Scientific discoveries have argued that empathy is a part of a human being’s hard wiring and is what connects people to one another through human interactions. While science has been pointing out the role that empathy plays in human nature, recent studies show that millennials are becoming less empathetic and more narcissistic. The study’s definition of empathy was derived from disciplines such as biology, neuroscience, social psychology, and education; the definition formed the basis for the interview questions. Ten graduates were interviewed for the study about how their high school curricular and service experiences helped them learn and develop empathy. Their responses revealed that empathy was learned and developed through four values: Service to Others, Gratitude, Human Dignity, and Brotherhood/Solidarity. The value of Service to Others emerged as the dominant theme in 95% of the curricular and service responses. Each of the former students personally recollected an anecdote and crafted a narrative around the service experiences which taught the value of service and human dignity. As a result of this study’s definition and interview questions, an empathy scale was constructed to help educators introduce empathy-based reflection, learning, and thinking into curriculum and service experiences.|Keywords: Empathy, Service, Reflection, Reflective Learning and Thinking