In the Service of What? Kahne and Westheimer

This article that we read this week was a good look into service learning and the difference between charity and change.  I completely agree with this article that the service learning should be focused more on change.  I like the idea of charity and it should be instilled in young peoples minds that they need to help those in need but in my mind it should be thought not to look through people and think that you are better than them just because you have more.  Young people should always get to know the people that they are helping.  It creates more of a bond and more of a learning experience for them to know what the bigger issue is and how they can help these individuals not only on a level of charity but how they can help change the bigger problem.  The little story about the middle school kids that went to the poor neighborhood school was the one I liked the most.  It showed how the parents preserved the area and how the news portrays the area and how completely different it was than what they thought.  After their show they got to talk to the kids and see who the kids really were and it gave them a different perspective on the area.   Now the author stated what else could have been done in this service learning but overall it was good for these kids and they engaged in conversations and got to know them.  To go further if they discussed and researched why their parents thought like this or why the news makes this neighborhood look bad and then how can it be changed would be going an additional step forward.  I related to this because I had a different perspective on the MET school that I am doing my service learning project at.  I had a student on my baseball team that goes to the MET and he was a socially awkward kid and didn't really fit in with kids in the public school.  He was outgoing and respectful and focused on his studies.  So going into the MET that was what I assumed most of the children were but I was wrong.  A lot of these children have problems at home, get distracted easily, have some authority issues, and need more help than most kids that I have met in the public schools.  So to relate to the reading, I worked on trying to get to know these kids on a more personal level and how I could help them do better in school and out of school. 

I love the aspect of change and how kids can change the world.  I help run a non-profit organization in Warwick RI and we have a lot of young kids volunteer with other younger students and mentor them.  It's like a big brother program.  We also do community cleanups and we get to know why the area has become the way it is and how we can change it.  We utilize the help of the local police officers to get data from the community and we meet in groups to discuss what we can do to change this in the community. Change comes from the people who teach you as you grow up.  When I was a kid there was a man who worked at the boys and girls club in my area, we were always doing service learning around the community that we lived in.  We did community cleanups, homeless awareness, fundraisers for the homeless, etc.  It was from this man that I learned how to better help children and be a positive figure in my community.  This man went on to be a teacher and a mentor to many children, me included and he became one of my best friends.  So when he passed away in 2012 we wanted to do something for him like he did for all of us.  We rebuilt a basketball court down the end of Oakland Beach and named it after him.  It started out as just one project with the Oakland Beach Association and it turned into the George Schmeider Memorial Association.  This is the non-profit I mentioned in the above sentences.  So when we talk about change it starts with the teachers and how they teach you to be better human beings and how you can change the bigger issues.  This is a video that hits close to home it was what we made to help raise money to start the whole association. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csAjYcPg4Vk

Overall I agree with the article and think that service learning is important but it needs to be more focused on the change. It is good to see children being better humans beings but we need to teach them how to make the bigger changes.   Yes the charity is important but the change is how you make a difference.