Talking Points #5

In the Service of What?

The Politics of Service Learning

By Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer

1.    “Students would interact with those less fortunate than themselves and would experience the excitement and joy of learning while using the community as a classroom.”

I think that it is great for kids to do community service and help out in the community. Sometimes you never realize what is out there until you are faced with it or experience it firsthand. In order to understand life, and all its hardships one needs to see it, and if you can help someone in need why not? In order to move toward change, fix problems, we need to acknowledge their existence. Of course some issues like disabilities you cannot really do anything about, but issues of poverty and such we can help.  It develops compassion and rids ignorance. This is very much an authentic learning experience.

2.    “We create opportunities for changing our understanding of the other and the context within which he or she lives.”

I completely agree. People are so quick to judge others and their way of life when they have no idea the hardships that person might be going through. By doing these projects we get to know people, their lives, their feeling, and how they truly live rather than assuming what we believe to be true. A lot of times I think people are surprised by the unknown, which is usually not as it seems.

3.    “A music director at a middle school we studied wanted her suburban, upper-middle-class students to perform at a nearby elementary school in a poor neighborhood…they had imagined "horrifying children running around on a dirty campus." They had expected them to be "rude, tough, noisy, and very unfriendly," and they even thought they would be "mean, gang-related blacks." One of the students wrote, "I was scared because my mom had told me it was a bad neighborhood and to be careful."

So often we hear this term “bad neighborhood” and with it comes all these stereotypes listed above. What is a bad neighborhood? What makes this neighborhood good, and this bad? It is so weird to think about. Perhaps these neighborhoods are bad because they are always labeled as such. Why are “bad neighborhoods” always related with “gang-related blacks”. Nobody can deny that when they hear the term “bad neighborhood” they think this, but it’s wrong. I hate it when I hear this.

This article was okay. It wasn’t my favorite out of all the articles that we have read, but I understand it. Service Learning is very important, not only for the community, but for us as individuals. It can teach us about life and bring us to the very core of reality. It’s amazing.