In The Service Of What? The Politics of Service Learning By: Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer

Extended Comments: 

I found Kahne and Westheimer’s article extremely engaging. After reading some of my peers post, I found that I share many of the same ideas as them when it comes to the topic of service learning. In particular I was drawn to Ariana's post and my post will be extended comments on her post.  In the article, both Mr. Johnson and Ms. Adams students took part in service learning experiences. However, each teacher took a bit of a different approach I think that both had positive outcomes. Ariana began her blog post stating that the beginning of the article gives a great description of what we should be getting out of our own service learning experiences. As the article explains,

"Improve the community and invigorate the classroom, providing rich educational experiences for students at all levels of schooling...[we] aim to respond to the needs of the community while furthering the academic goals of students."

This quote couldn’t be more accurate, we are improving the community by spending time at these inner city schools. We are making an effort to enhance the knowledge and lives of students who come from very little. We are also building meaningful relationships with students who could really use an older role model in their lives. Just by taking a few hours a week to spend time at these schools is benefitting children social- emotionally, and academically. Personally, I feel like my experiences have also benefited me social- emotionally and academically. After my visits, I feel so happy because I know I helped make someone’s day better. I also feel fortunate that I have the opportunity to work in the classroom and learn things first hand that will be especially useful to me in my future as an early childhood educator. Another quote from the article that Ariana used that I thought was important to touch upon was that,

"Unfortunately, in many service activities, students view those they serve as clients rather than as a resource". I think that this quote relates to Ariana’s high school experience. Ariana explained that many of her classmates complained about having to complete 30 hours of community service. I think it’s important to acknowledge that students think of the term, “community service” as a chore. Often they are not made knowledgeable of all of the highly valuable skills and experiences that can be taken from service learning.

Comments/Points to Share:

I was never required to complete service learning hours before attending college. Unlike Ariana and many of my other classmates, I was not introduced to it in high school. In a way I feel as though if I had been introduced to it sooner, it would have really benefited and prepared me for the real world and college. I think that service learning serves a huge role in the development of maturity. From my service learning experiences I have become more familiar with how to respond to many different situations in the classroom, especially in regards to culture. I think it is crucial to discuss some ways of positively promoting service learning in order to reduce many of the common misconceptions that students have about service learning.