talking point #5

Kahne and Westheimer

1. "In contrast, much of the current discussion regarding service learning emphasizes charity, not change."

Service learning helps everyone involved. The person doing the work can be changed. Maybe before they started their work their opinions were different than when they finished. The people that are being helped are changing as well. They are receiving services that they don't have to worry about paying for. So saying that it is just charity is wrong. It changes many people that the service learning touches.

2."Service learning can advance other priorities, such as the acquisition of vocational skills."

Doing service learning is doing something that you would normally not do. This gives people the opportunity to explore other areas of learning and activities they never would have thought of taking part in. After starting our service learning project I have learned so much more about teaching and urban setting schools. The students teach me so much. If I had never gone to this school and don't this service learning, I wouldn't have the better teaching skills that I have today.

3. “ ‘In the service of what?’ is a question that inevitably merits the attention of teachers, policy makers, and academicians who take seriously the idea that learning and service reinforce each other and should come together in America’s schools.”

Helping others learn can help you learn yourself. Everyone is benefited by service learning. It shouldn't be for a reward at the end of the service because then you won't get anything educational out of it. Some people do service learning just because they have to and they hate every second of it. If you go into it with a positive attitude then you can really take something from it.

I did not like reading this article at all. It was very hard to get through and I don't think I understood much of it at all. I didn't know what else to say and kind of kept saying the same thing. I did understand that service learning is for the best and need to try to connect it to school as much as possible.