Talking Points #5

Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer
“In Service of What?: The Politics of Service Learning”

1) “This experience and others like it, quite common in the literature of service learning, emphasize charity more than change. The experience was structured to promote giving rather than to provide the kind of understanding needed for the development of caring relationships.”

The quote suggests that the information available about service learning is slightly one-sided. There is more of an emphasis on doing charity work than learning from that charity work and using that knowledge to make a change. Most people think of service learning as a charity that they have to complete and not something that they can learn from.

2) “Unfortunately, in many service activities, students view those they serve as clients rather than as a resource.”

The quote says that the people that are helped by others in a service learning project also have information to offer. It’s probably not the same kind of information, but it is something that the helper could learn from the helpee. If someone who is participating in service learning, learned from the person they are helping as much as they taught the other person it would make the relationship way more beneficial to both parties.

3) “To date, however, little attention has been given to sorting out the goals and motivations that underlie the spectrum of service learning projects emerging in schools throughout the country.”

The quote says that there are just as many reasons that people participate in service learning as kinds of service learning projects. The reason for doing a service project is just as important, if not more important, as the project. If a person has a weak reason for being there, the project may not go well. If a person feels like they are only doing a community service because they are obligated, then they may not put much effort or energy into the project.

I think that the article is trying to get more people to do service learning to create a change. They want the people involved to be the change similar to what Johnson and Delpit say. I like that they talk about the different motivations people have behind service learning. I know many people that just do service learning projects because they are obligated or they feel bad that people don’t have as much as them. I like to think that I’m making a difference when I do any kind of service project and the project we’re doing in this class is no different. I’m trying to help these kids acquire a very important skill and I’m learning about diversity and culture from them. It’s a two way street and the relationship has to benefit both sides. I like that we’re building relationships with these kids and not just teaching them to read.