"In the Service of What?" Quotes

“Educators and legislators alike maintain that service learning can improve the community and invigorate the classroom, providing rich educational experiences for students at all levels of schooling. 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.” I feel this quote nicely sums up the main values of service learning. It illustrates all the positive impacts that service learning can have on a community and its students. Having gone through the Pawtucket school system my entire life, I have seen the shortcomings of the district and feel that having service learning could have made a strong positive impact in Pawtucket. The only time I ever had an experience with someone fulfilling service-learning hours was in the fourth grade. This to me was a very positive experience; I would anticipate that person coming every week and enjoyed the time that they spent time in my class.

The other quote that stood out to me was “In contrast, much of the current discussion regarding service learning emphasizes charity, not change.” It stood out to me because the authors are pointing out a difference between donating clothes and going to help a young child learn math. Although they’re both good deeds one has only a temporary positive impact while the other could be a life changer. The authors want to emphasize that although charity is not entirely negative it’s impotent that change is what you’re working towards. 

For my link this week i decided to include a video that highlights a couple of different service learning projects that students are participating in across America.