In the Service of What? Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer

Premise:

• Service Learning
• volunteering
• what can you do
• controversy in education
• community
• learning experience
• teachers
• politics
• students
• compassion
• involvement
• advantage/disadvantage
• reality

Argument:

• Kahne and Westheimer argue that service learning differs from the execution of the individual teacher and that it has many aspects to it, some simply being the challenge of politics and accepted morality.

Evidence:

• "proponents of service learning have worked to find common ground between Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, business leaders and community activisit" (p.2)
• "...authentic learning experiences, reflection on matters of social concern, and opportunites for interdisciplinary study linked to curricular goals." (p.3)
• "Just was the difference between change and charity may provide an important conceptual distinction for those analyzing service learning curricula, it is helpful to distinguish the moral, political, and intellectual goals that motivate those who support service learning." (p.5)
• "The importance for a meaningful reflective component becomes clearer when one considers the kind of deliberation and studnet empowerment that such a curriculum can foster." (p. 11)

Questions/Comments:

• Service learning has its place and always will. The vitality of volunteering is evident in everyday society or you wouldn't see so many juveniles getting community service, which is not the same but still, to volunteer is to sacrifice time and energy to better ones community. I volunteer at a food bank and its touching to see how excited an elderly women can get that prospect of bringing home a jar of peanut butter for her grandkids.