Blog Post #6 - In The Service of What? (Quotes)

          In "In The Service of What?" by Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer, both authors compare different forms of service learning projects and their effect on the students and community they were helping. They look at two different perspectives one can have when they help others, and the two words they use to define this are "Giving" and "Caring." One quote that I found interesting was "Educators and legislators alike maintain that service learning can improve the community and invigorate the classroom, providing rich educational experiences for students at all levels of schooling" (1). I enjoyed this quote because I related to it personally. I am currently volunteering at The Met high school in Providence, and the students there are required to perform a service learning project. While theirs' is not exactly the same as the students in this article, the fact remains that Met students are going out into the world and having hands-on experiences in the field they wish to follow in life. This provides the students with "rich educational experiences" and allows them to see the day to day goings-on in a job which they would like to acquire some day.

          "By engaging in meaningful service—whether tutoring children for whom English is a second language, helping patients in a hospital, doing difficult chores for the elderly, or supervising younger children's recreational activities—students will have opportunities to experience what David Hornbeck, former Maryland state superintendent, referred to as "the joy of reaching out to others""(4). I found in intriguing that the article pointed out the differences between the two service learning projects. Mr. Johnson's class would work on the problem at hand, while Ms. Adams' class would try to understand and prevent the problem. I believe that Johnson's class having hands-on experience with the homeless for example would yield a much better experience and allow the students to see life through another person's eyes. What made this notion clear for me was from one of the students' journals that, along with his stepmother, helped veterans on Thanksgiving. "It seemed that the dinner was something special to them; it was a chance for them to get together with their peers. Many don't have families in the area and are all alone for the holidays. This made it a little less lonely, which feels great. Thank you for giving me the chance to help!" (7).

This video gives a clear definition and the importance of service learning.