Service Learning

     In the article, "In the Service Of What? The Politics of Service Learning"  by Joseph Kahne and Koel Westheimer touches upon the benefits of service learning in schools. This article brought up several great points of how service is an important aspect of learning which teaches students different perspectives in the process. In one of the examples provided, Kahne et all explain how a middle school teacher proposed their students, part of a suburban upper-middle class, to volunteer at a poor elementary school in the area. There were already mixed emotions about volunteering in that environment because of previous notions and reputation of the school system. "The students said that they had imagined 'horrifying children running around on a dirty campus...And expected them to be 'rude, tough, noisy and very unfriendly". Along with the confirmation from parents that it, "was a bad neighborhood and to be careful." The incredible result of this form of service was that their pre existing notion of the experience had a complete opposite turn out. "After they returned, the students' perspectives on these elementary school children changed. They were 'surprised at the children's responsiveness and their attentiveness, and found the children extremely polite and surprisingly friendly." One student wrote....

"Everyone at the school had good manners and I think more highly of [the neighborhood] now".... 

   "This 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."  I found this to be absolutely true because of the fact I have experienced this sense of "otherness" in my high school career. The high school I had attended was an urban community with a similar reputation as the middle school mentioned but on a higher scale. It was known for being scary, having fights, bomb threats, and overall a negative reputation. My junior year of high school I was forced to attend another high school, (long story), which was a privileged community with predominately white students. Before starting my first day of school, I wasn't worried that I would not fit in with this community and had pre existing notions that the students would be friendly. However, they did not meet my expectations and if anything were the opposite, making me feel unwelcome and part of the "otherness". Knowing that I had come from the different, underprivileged school system with a bad reputation, they looked at me differently. I would get the same comment, "You don't look like a kid that would go to school there...Is it scary there?.. Have you seen a fight...etc etc".What was I supposed to look like to them? It made me feel excluded and I was viewed differently than the other students. They thought I was aggressive (lol) and not like any of the other girls there. This is an example of the ignorance that creates the "otherness" described in the article.

                                   I hope this meme aggravates you the way it did for me.