The Politics of Service Learning, what Viv thinks.

FNED 346

Dr. Bogad

When I was in junior High and High school, I spent every summer doing volunteer work for inner city day camps in my home town.  When my daughter was growing up, she did charitable work every year with her girl scout troop.  Her senior year in High School, she went to Mississippi and built a house with her classmates for Habitat for Humanity.  In her case and mine, we believed we did some good.  But as I read this article, I found myself wondering why there needs to be a conversation about the value of kindness, or the importance of charity.  I want to believe that it is a heritable trait.  

Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer reveal how politically loaded the ideas of service learning really are.  In Table 1, they provide moral, political and intellectual distinctions for use in analyzing service learning curricula, whether to emphasize charity or real change.   

( I feel the need to point out that the “Daily Life” kits that were distributed to the homeless in San Francisco included a small Bible. . . . Does this bother anybody else?????)

Sorry for the digression.  The Common Core, the common “heart”, is about developing critical thinking skills and abilities.  Service learning that is about analyzing the need, and making things better aligns itself with the common core, in every discipline.  And intellectual change is where I find myself lingering. Using a critically thinking to understand why the need exists in the first place is so powerful.  And I have to believe that this isn’t just a mission for young people.

See here the difference between altruistic behavior, and true reform:  George Bush’s Thousand Points of Light “through which the lucky served the needy”, was certainly charitable, yet it also ensured that tax shelters of the privileged remained intact.  In contrast, when Jimmy Carter left office, he started building houses for people in need.  Habitat for Humanity is working right here in Rhode Island. 

http://www.habitatprov.org/site/index.php

And I would be remiss not to mention Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative (CGI).  It’s mission “ is to inspire, connect, and empower a community of global leaders to forge solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.”  Todays students are our future global leaders.

http://communityoflights.com/humanitarian/bill-clinton-humanitarian

CGI U is more than just an event. It is a growing community of young leaders who don't just discuss the world's challenges -- they take real, concrete steps toward solving them. Prior to attending the meeting, each student and university must develop and submit a Commitment to Action: a specific plan of action that addresses a pressing challenge on his or her campus or in the wider global community. Commitments range from installing energy-efficient light bulbs to establishing campus bike-share programs, from distributing life-saving water filtration kits to designing medical backpacks for nomadic doctors in Africa. Since the inaugural meeting, nearly 2,000 commitments have been made by students around the world. CGI U is proof that young people have the power to make a significant impact by confronting some of the world's most urgent challenges.

I see no argument here. 

And if you have a minute still, (because I know we are all busy) this is beautiful.  Stephen Marley,  Playing for Change:  

He will be in RI at Fete In Olneyville, April 20th. . . he is his father's son.