In The Service of What?

The author, Kahne and Westhimer, argue that a Service Learning Project or community service is important to students in the school system. These authors who wrote “In the Service of What?” are explaining that they believe service learning is something that students should be doing. They feel that it is a good thing for three reason/domains: Moral, Political, and Intellectual domains. They would develop a stronger sense of morality, because they would be more caring and giving. The service learning would make them care for someone else, than just themselves. This would also teach them more about other people as well. They would gain a sense of a political view, meaning that they would become more responsible students and even citizens. And of course, the students would become more intellectual. The students would learn so much more than just the core subjects, that they would be transformed into a new person. Students could participate in any community serve they want, such as, volunteering at a homeless shelter or an elderly home, mentoring another student, tutoring, etc. These activities will teach them to become better citizens and they will learn more about the culture of other people. The authors believe that it will help them in the school setting as well. However, the authors make the point that the parents have an impact on the students. For example, a music director at a middle school wanted to take his students to perform for a school that was in a poorer neighborhood than them. Parents declined it because they felt their kids would be in an “unsafe area," and that reflected on the students views. However, they went and they did not feel the same way when they left, they enjoyed it. Political leaders, like Bush, Kennedy, etc, were noted for their powerful words, that the authors relate to service learning, which is a great point. The main point that the authors are trying to make is that they believe community service is important to students and it should be apart of the child’s curriculum.  This website states the top reasons why community service is important and should be in high schools. These reasons relate to the author's argument for this topic. 

As well as doing the argument part, I just want to add a view comments of my own going off about the main topic. The authors mentioned that community service is being put into place as a graduation requirement in schools. In my high school, we had to complete twenty hours of community service in order to reach a graduation requirement. To me, I thought that this was a great idea and it was easy for me because I volunteer at places often. I know that some students had a difficult time completing this task and I feel that it was because they did not find something they truly enjoyed, because they just saw it as they needed to get it done. Others felt that it was a great experience, which is what more people should believe. Here is a website that speaks of community service as a policy throughout Rhode Island (but you could look at other selected states), it's pretty interesting to read with all of the state facts and laws. Also in my school district, students could complete a Service Learning Project and complete tasks in order to graduate. However, they took that away and now we have to do Portfolios, which is I hope is all changed when we become teachers. The project was anything that a student wanted to do And was approved to do. They would volunteer in a work field and learn all about it, then complete a project. In some districts, this option is still available to do and they love it. I feel that it makes a lot of sense and it’s a great opportunity for them to grow as a person. I believe that our service learning project is one of the best things in this class. I absolutely love it and it has already taught me so much. I’ve always been into volunteering, whether it be for my old Church, Special Olympics, or mentoring children, but it has all shaped me into the person I am. If more students were aware of community service and learned how to do a service project, I think that those students would grow from it. They would learn all of the things that Kahne and Westhimer described because it would be such a great opportunity. I related this article to White Privilege Knapsack. In my previous blog about that I talked about a few quotes that McIntosh stated. She said that "I was taught to see myself as an individual whose moral state depended on her individual moral will" I believe that being apart of community service makes you who you are because you get to experience so much great things. I know that it was about two separate topics but it made me think that being a volunteer was apart of your morals. Community service wouldn't be a "thing" if we didn't have problems or issues in the world that needed to be fixed. so I also related this to what McIntosh said as well "Individual acts can palliate, but cannot end these problems." I said before that I disagree with this quote because I believe it can, but each individual act of community service is a great thing that is working to make something better. (So I was just using quotes from McIntosh that made me think about this article, not so much the overall topic of her article). As you can see, I am big for volunteering, because I truly think it is a great experience that would effect someone in great ways. One of the people in the article said “The hope was that the students values and beliefs might be transformed by these experiences.” 

Topic Point: Did anyone else have community service as a graduation requirement? Did you guys like the idea of it or did you just feel it was something that had to get done? If you could do something like the Service Learning Project when you were in high school, do you thing that you would feel the same way as you do know? Although I am all in for volunteering, I also feel that it won’t have a huge effect on someone unless they are more mature and “grown up”. Like in elementary school, once a month we would all make blankets for the poor. I knew that it was a great thing to be doing, but I had more fun just making the blankets than understanding what it was truly about. Now I would appreciate that more. Anyone else feel this way?