In the Service of What?

The Politics of Service Learning

By Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer

Quotes

“In the moral domain, service learning activities tend toward two types of relationships. Relationships that emphasize charity we will call “giving”.

Those that aim primarily to deepen relationships and to forge new connections we will call “caring.”

I chose this quote because I found it interesting that there are 2 different types of service learning. I always looked at is community service but never broke it down into what type of service I was actually doing, it was nice to learn what type of service was more “giving” and what was more “caring.”

“In the intellectual domain, a service learning curriculum can further a number of goals. The ability of a service learning curriculum can further a number of goals. The ability of a service learning curriculum to foster authentic, experience-based learning opportunities, to motivate students, to help students engage in higher- order thinking in contextually varied environments….”

I liked this quote because it points out what service learning can do for a student. When I was in high school we never really had to do any service learning. By making students do more in school, it opens their eyes to different things. That is why I like that we are doing the service learning now because without this opportunity, I probably would have never volunteered in the school I am in.

“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.”

This quote is important because it’s saying that this needs to be reinforced and America’s schools should be doing this.

Points to Share:

I am interested to see what other people’s high schools required for service learning? Also what people thought about this essay?