Talking Points 5

In The Service Of What?
By: Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer

Matthew Sawyer

1) 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.

2)These curriculum theorists and educational reformers wanted students to engage in service learning projects so that they would recognize that their academic abilities and collective commitments could help them respond in meaningful ways to a variety of social concerns.

3)Citizenship requires that individuals work to create, evaluate, criticize, and change public institutions and programs.

"In the Service of What?" focusses on the debate concerning service learning projects. The debate doesn't concern whether or not to have one, as both sides are pretty adament on the need and benefits of a service learning project, but focuses more on weither or not projects should focus on giving or caring. Giving projects have more to do with physically helping another person, group, or cause while Caring projects focus more on why another person, gorup, or cause needs our help and how to go about changing their place in our culture. Many conservatives believe strongly in Giving projects as their goal is a stronger community less reliant on government intervention while liberals tend to favor Caring projects that help government organizations change and adapt in order to better serve the community as a whole. Kahne and Westheimer disagree with both of these sides and believe in a more unified effort. While giving projects lack an analytical process that identifies a cause and creates workable solutions, caring projects lack a physical component important in a students growth. Thus, a combination of both projects would create a more well rounded student who is able to identify social issues, work with those immediately affected by said issues, and work together to create a solution for these issues. Not only would this type of service learning create a more knowledgeable student, it would facilitate an immediate and long-lasting solution to our societys problems.