Talking Points #5 In the Service of What? The Politics of Service Learning By: Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer

The authors argue that it is "better to be explicit about the numerous and different visions that drive the creation and implementation of service learning activities in schools." When a service learning project is assigned, the assigner needs to explain to the assigned exactly what vision they have by this project being done to answer the question, "In the service of what?""

1. "Service learning makes students active participants in service projects that aim to respond to the needs of the community while furthering the academic goals of students."

This quotation is relevant to the text and the author's argument because it specifically explains the answer to the queston, "In the service of what?" In my service learning project, I am responding to the need of Providence schools with academic issues and working one on one with a student to improve his grades. After this it said, "Service learning can advance other priorities, such as the acquisition of vocational skills." This reminded me of my Habitat for Humanity trip where I went to Biloxi, MI to build a house for a week for a family who were victims of Hurricane Katrina. The trip taught me how important teamwork is and I learned many things about building a house. This was an obvious need in the community. Habitat for Humanity has explicit goals that they have in mind when sendind people on these trips. I knew exactly what I was working for and who I was serving. In fact, I even met the family that would be moving in. Because I knew exactly who I was serving, my teammates and I were able to have an even better attitude in building the house.

2. "After they returned, the students' perspectives of these elementary school children had changed. They were "surprised at the children's responsiveness and attentiveness," they found the children to be "extremely polite and surprisingly friendly," and they discovered that they "listened well and had excellent behavior." One student wrote, "Everyone at the school had good manners, and I think more highly of [the neighborhood] now."

When I told my parents I would be volunteering in Roger Williams Middle School on Thurbers Avenue for fifteen hours this semester, they had mixed feelings about it. They were just like the middle school parents in the article objecting to their children going into an elementary school in a "bad" neighborhood. From my experience in Roger Williams, I have found that the students there are not bad. They are regular middle school children who are finding themselves as they mature. This required service learning is helping to diminish the sense of "otherness." This word "otherness" is a key word that reinforces stereotypes within our community. For example, Roger Williams has a bad reputation when ranked against other middle schools in the state. However, these other middle schools outside of Providence probably do not have free or reduced lunch for over ninety-five percent of their students. Poverty is directly related to poorer grades in school. These facts are ignored during these rankings and when uneducated people look at the statistics and see Roger Williams at the bottom of the list, "fuel is added to the fire" in the stereotyping of Roger Williams of a "bad" school. I tutor a homeless student at Roger Williams. I do not remember any homeless students at my middle school, Mount Saint Charles Academy. So, before we go judging inner city schools, we need to remember they are kids and understand that where they come from directly influences their capabilities in school, and sometimes they cannot do anything about it.


3. "Time and energy given to such superficial betterment [Hannah gives as an example making Thanksgiving baskets for poor families] could much more efficiently be spent in getting at the basic inhibiting influences which perpetuate a scarcity economy in the midst of abundance."

This is an example of a bandaid on a broken arm. Who is to blame? "He [Bush] made no mention of changes that address the structural injustices that leave so many in need." Sometimes we spend time doing things like making Thanksgiving baskets and accept that there are people without food in our community. This is just like when Kozol talked about giving sleeping bags to the people in South Bronx and how it was a bandaid on a broken leg. They are not fixing the problem. They are accepting that those people are going to be cold, just like we accept that some people have no food. We can give them a meal, but that does not solve the problem. So, instead of giving them food every Thanksgiving, maybe all that time and energy could be spent on job training or in some cases, literacy skills.

I thought this article was pretty interesting. I am an advocate of making service learning part of the curriculum. However, I would agree with Mr. Johnson in that he let his students do community service projects of their choosing. There are certain things that I am curious about and really want to learn about. By being able to choose, I would be more enthusiastic about my project and definitely get more out of it. The authors presented a couple of case studies with different ideas of how service learning is presented. I would like to know what is the best way to introduce service learning to the classroom so that learning can take place.