Charity vs. Change

In the classroom teachers and school leaders aim to teach students how to be successful individuals who can contribute to society. By doing service learning is a great way to incorporate analytical thinking and giving back to the community. “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….in addition to helping those they serve, such service learning activities seek to promote students’ self-esteem, to develop higher-order thinking skills, to make use of multiple abilities, and to provide authentic learning experiences…” I think this quote is a great explanation of what service learning should consist of. While reading this article I have noticed that students are doing service learning just to fulfill their requirement rather than truly putting in time and effort.

“Much of the current discussion regarding service learning emphasizes charity, not change.” I think this quote is one of the most important in this article and brings up one of the key points of the article. The difference between charity and change is important, and students need to be aware of the difference. Many students have fallen into the trap of charity rather than change. Service learning projects have come to be a graduation requirement that students just do to fulfill. The initial idea of having service learning was to have students become aware of social problems and society and being a member trying to change this problem. There is a large difference between the charity work and trying to make a change in society. “…promoting this vision of service learning hope to move students toward participation in what Benjamin Barber refers to as a “strong democracy”. They call for a curriculum that emphasizes critical reflection about social policies and conditions…” I think quote summarizes what students should be getting out of service learning. It is not just about doing charity work just to say you did it, it is about wanting to make a change and motivating society to be aware of its social problems.