In The Service Of What?

Kahne and Westheimer argue that service learning is vital in the education of a child. Our school system is aware of this and most of our school had made service learning part of their curriculum. But there are two kinds of service, the one made for charity and the other which is made for change. In some way, both have the same intentions, help needed people and also educate students involved in the process. Besides the similarities, there are differences between these two types of services, as which of the two would be the most beneficial for our society and which would serve better as a reinforce in a child personal and educational development. Here is where the big question comes, “In the service of what?” .This is the question many educators have being asking themselves at the time they introduce service learning in their classrooms.

• “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.”

This quote explicitly says how vital service learning can be in the life and education of a child. At the same time a child help those in needs also learn.

• “Mr. Johnson had his students participate in community service projects of their own choosing. For example, one student worked in a center for babies whose mothers had high levels of crack cocaine in their bloodstreams during pregnancy. … By finding and engaging in community service activities, Mr. Johnson explained, students would interact with those less fortunate than themselves and would experience the excitement and joy of leaning while using community as their classroom.”

This quote is an example of service learning as charity. As students help those “less fortunate” they can learn. But some of the problems when doing service learning as charity are that sometimes it is a school requirement and the students end up doing it for obligation and that when obligation is involved no reflection on what is being done is made.

• “Working together, Ms. Adams and her students identified issues of common concern and then voted to focus their energy on the issue of homeless. … They developed action plans to aid relief efforts for homeless in their communities and raised funds for two homeless advocacy groups the class had selected. During whole-class and small-group discussions and also writing, they reflected on the readings, on what they had learned from the invited speakers, and on their own experiences while working on the project.”

This is an example of service learning done for change. When students participate and collaborate to make some change in their community more leaning occur because as the quote above mentions, there is reflection involve. This kind of service is long-term and is more beneficial for the community.


After reading this article I found myself asking in what kind of service I was involve while I was in high school. I remember it was required to do service learning in order to graduate and when I was in 12TH grade my English teacher had us go to a child daycare near by the school twice a week. There I had to help the kids with their reading. To be honest, I liked to go and help them because these were poor kids who needed the help. I think my experience can be considered as charity but today I think in a different way and if I had to do service learning again I’ll do it because I want to make some change in my community.