In Service of What?

 

 

   In the Service of What?, readers learn about service-learning, schools and their relationship to one another. This link gives more background on Service Learning and how one can impact their community http://www.epa.gov/osw/education/pdfs/svclearn.pdf. When reading, three quotes stood out to me. The first quote is from Mr. Johnson, a teacher who gave his 12^th graders a service-learning project. He claimed, “By finding and engaging in community service activities…students would interact with those less fortunate than themselves and would experience the excitement and joy of learning while using community as a classroom”. I believe very strongly in this quote because I think the best means of education is firsthand experience. Sure you can donate money or items that those who are less fortunate need, but you won’t understand what they are going through unless you see it for yourself. By physically going out into the world and actually working with others, you can see the world through their eyes. This I feel makes your emotions towards them more real, more understanding, which can compel you to continue helping others.

       The second quote that stood out to me was, “much of the current discussion regarding service learning emphasizes charity, not change”. This quote really makes me think about how students are going about helping others. There is absolutely nothing wrong with volunteering, I encourage it and enjoy doing it myself. But is volunteering the best way to help others? Would it have more impact on others if we came up with actual plans and followed through with said plans to help others? For example, Habitat for Humanity is known for helping those in our community that are homeless and one method to help is by building homes for them. They not only have volunteers to help but they also have plans on how to help them. In this article, one classroom comes up with the planning process to help others but they don’t do any physical work towards helping. I think planning is only part of it, the same with physically volunteering. If you keep volunteering with no plan, where are you going with this volunteer work? What’s the goal of said volunteering?

       The last quote that piqued my interest was that “educators may miss important opportunities if they disconnect the act of service from a critical examination of the setting in which it occurs”. I like this quote because if one focuses so much on the setting, one can lose focus on why they are examining the setting. Examinations of the setting will help with the cause because you can understand the situation more. But if that’s all you focus on, you can forget why you are helping in the first place. You start thinking more with your head and not as much with your heart. Service Learning appeals to a person’s emotions and its not the same if you are emotionally disconnected from it.

     If you are interested in learning more about Habitat for Humanity, I highly encourage you to visit their website! http://www.habitat.org/