Talking Points # 5 - In The Service of What? The Politics of Service Learning

by Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer

Kahne and Westheimer argue that though all service learning projects give aid to the community, it is the caring projects that help to promote change and have a bigger impact on the well being of the community than does a charity project.

• "The experiential and interpersonal components of service learning activities can achieve the first crucial step toward diminishing the sense of 'otherness' that often separates students--particularly privileged students--from those in need. In so doing, the potential to develop caring relationships is created."

The students in the upper-middle class school who had visited and sang at an urban school learned a great deal about the students who attend the school and live in the area. These students' perspectives on the particular school and the children who attend there had dramatically changed. They began to see these students as real people, just like them, and no longer viewed them as an 'other.' This breaks down the wall between the two groups of people, creating the opportunity for these students to establish a caring relationship, while also making change.

• "For the most part, however, descriptions of reflective activities do not include the kind of critical analysis that might help students step outside dominant understandings to find new solutions."

It is not enough to simply give charity to a community, or person, in need, It is also important for teachers to have their students reflect upon what they have learned and observed, thus helping them to make a connection to the community, or person, they are helping. Once a connection is made, the student will care about the importance of finding a solution to the problems at hand, not just to put a so-called band-aid on the problem.

• "Citizenship in a democratic community requires more than kindness and decency; it requires engagement in complex social and institutional endeavors. Acts of civic duty cannot replace government programs or forms of collective social action. Citizen ship requires that individuals work to create, evaluate, criticize, and change public institutions and programs."

Being a good citizen does not simply mean that you hold a door open for a fellow shopper at a store, or just a smile at the coffee shop. Citizenship means to take an active roll in the public organizations and to help improve them.

Service learning projects within the schools is a wonderful way to engage our young adults in the betterment of the community. Providing them with a hands-on activity gives them the opportunity to create a caring relationship with the subject/s of their service learning project. Charity projects help the community, but it is the caring projects that help to make a change.