"Talking Points #5 (Kahne/Westheimer)

In the Service of what?
The Politics of Service Learning
Joseph Kahne & Joel Westheimer

Kahne/Westheimer argues that even though SL projects are great experiances and should be supported, there are criteria that should be fulfilled. They say that these programs should have their unerlying goals brought to the surface as well as making them widely available and allowing students to pick their own projects.

"His [Mr. Johnson] high school seniors were not asked to articulate an understadning of the conditions and contexts that might have contributed to the loss of a family's home or to a pregnant mother's decision to turn to crack cocaine. Ms. Adam's students, by contrast, began yheir work with a systematic and criticial analysis of the caused of homlessness an of the strategies employed to prevents it."
I thought it was interesting that the younger students look at the facts that sort of "shaped" the people they saw first hand and that the older students did not. I would think that these roles would have been reversed; not because the seventh graders are incapable but because many often think the younger grades might not "understand" or "be ready" to learn about the real world. Granted, telling a 12 year old the woes of crack cocaine and what they do to an unborn child can be life changing but isn't that the point. If something changes your life, you are going to remember it and therefore, they may keep it more in mind once they face tougher issues or drugs themselves as they get older. Or, if they are already experiencing that, it might help them make the right decision. I did find it odd however that the older students did not discuss the causes. As an educator, why wouldn't you want your students to understand where the information is coming from?
"...--students haves the opportunitities to experiance what David Hornbeck, fromer Maryland state superintendent, referred to as 'the joy of reaching out to others.' For example, many stuents left Mr. Johnson's project aware of the contributions that they could make toward helping others..."
I felt that this quote summed up my SL experiances. Granted, I may not agree with my teacher's methods but that dos not mean I have to suffer. I have worked with one boy a little bit each week and its great to help him and hear him read a word confidently that he couldn't read when he came to school that day. I mean, its why I wanted to become a teacher.
"For example, a music director at a middle school we studies wanted her surburban, upper-middle class students to perform at a nearby elementary school in a poor neighborhood. Some of the middle school parents objects, saying they they were concerned for their children's safety. In a written evaluation, the students said that they had imagined 'horrifying children running around on a dirty campus.' "
I felt like this quote was similar to my initial reaction. I didn't have my parents objecting and I didn't think I was going to see horrifying children but I knew my SL school was going to be different from my elementary school. But I knew it was going to be different in terms of the divsersity, which meant the children would just be different from myself and most of the kids I went to school with. I didn't think it was going to be this "jungle" of students who were crazy. The school itself looks old and not in the best condition so I figured the classrooms would look the same but I knew it wasn't all physical apperances that matter but the teaching that goes on in those rooms.

Overall, I didn't mind read this article. It was a bit lengthy but an easy read so I could read it pretty quickly and still felt like I understood it. I also thought it was interesting to see the differnces in SL projects and those are reflected in the quotes I selected.