In the Service of What? -Quotes

"It lay in the analytic and academic skills, the moral acuity, and the social sensitivity they would develop as they learned to assess critically and respond collectively to authentic problems." 

When students do their service learning they will gain knowledge on the topic and be able to asses the situation they are working with.  They would also further understand what it feels like to be in those peoples shoes. This is because the students will become part of these peoples lives. When students participate in service learning they will be able to work with problems that affect many people. This quote referred to John Dewey's belief that with service learning there was also a chance for students values and beliefs to be changed or brought into question. Such as the case of the middle schoolers who went to an elementary school in a poor neighborhood. In this case their beliefs changed.

"After they returned, the students' perspectives on these elementary school children had changed. They were 'surprised at the children's responsiveness and their attentiveness,' "

This is the change that John Dewey spoke about. With service learning students beliefs are sometimes challenged. Prior to helping out in the elementary school, they only knew what their parents told them and what media said about people in that neighborhood. I agree with Dewey that when you do service learning, it is not only about helping out but it's also about learning something through this experience and helping make a change.

"The ability of 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, and to promote interdisciplinary studies has led some, such as John Bisco, a leader in the field, to label service learning 'the Trojan horse of school reform.' "

This quote says that with service learning we are able to learn through experience, therefore each of our experiences are unique to us. During our service learning we are all experiencing different things because we work with different students.  When we are gaining these experiences, we are also learning about people/students whose lifestyle may differ from ours.  Therefore we engage in a continuous process of obtaining knowledge. When schools implement service learning for the sole purpose of students to obtain this knowledge and transform the way they learn,  is referred to as "The Trojan Horse of school reform." 

Throughout this article I thought about our Service Learning. This semester we work with students to gain experience as professionals. But now I understand that this isn't the only purpose.  We are also learning about the community we work with and sometimes our beliefs are challenged. After hearing some of our peers speak, I think our service learning has become transformative potential. When we end our service learning many of our thoughts or beliefs may be changed. In December we will have acquired  knowledge and insights on new topics. Now that I think about it, can also relate to the discussions we have on articles and the topics we address in class. 

More on Service Learning