Talking Points #5

Article #1
Kahne and Westheimer
In Service of What

Kahne and Westheimer argue that teachers should encourage their students to use what they have learned in their service learning projects to help and change their communities.

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."
Kahne and Westheimer are saying that it is important for students to get out into their community and make themselves known. By using community service projects, students are able to know their community as well as make themselves known for helping out their community whether it is mandatory or not.

2. "By engaging in meaningful service--whether tutoring children for whom English is a second language, helping patients in a hospital, doing difficult chores for the elderly, or supervising younger children's recreational activities--students will have opportunities to experience what David Hornbeck, former Maryland state superintendent. referred to as 'the joy of reaching out to others.'"
The main purpose in giving students community service projects is so hopefully let them see the joy in helping other people. If people can experience joy by helping one another maybe they will be more apt to help others on another occasion.

3. "This experience and others like it, quite common in the literature of service learning, emphasize charity more than change."
I think what they are saying here is that service learning is not all about trying to change the world but rather being able to give to a person in need.

I thought the article was informative. I thought it was clever how we have to read this article in particular while we are doing our service learning projects. I now understand why we have to bring our journals to class tomorrow. We will obviously be doing somehting about what we have learned so far during out service learning project.