Talking Points #5

Premise:

-service learning
-politics
-education
-students
-community
-experience
-opportunities
-compassion
-caring
-learning
-altruism

Argument:
Kahne and Westheimer argue that service learning should be incorporated in classrooms to help them learn more about the community and gain experience.

Evidence:
1. "Educators and legislators alike maintain that service learning can improve the community and invigorate the classroom, providing rich educaional experiences for students at all levels of schooling." (2)
2. "Service Learning makes students ative participants in service projects that aim to respond to the needs of the community while furthering the academic goals of students." (2)
3. These curriculum theorists and education reformers wanted studens to engage in service learning projecs so that they would recognize that their academic abililities and collective commitments could help them respond in a meaningful ways to a variety of social concerns." (4)
4. "We try to consider the life and disposition of those for whom we are caring...in so doing, we create opportunities for changing our understanding of the other and the context within which he or she lives" (5).
5."Efforts to integrate service learning activities into the curriculum have great potential and deserve the support they are now receiving." (12)

Questions/Comments:
This article was slightly confusing to me and I'm still not sure if I understand the point that Kahne and Westheimer were trying to make. I know that they approve of service learning activities but I think that they were saying that students should not do it as a charity. Students should perform service learning activities as a means of experience and gain knowledge about the activities they are performing. I think it is important to understand the background of the people that you are helping before you get close to them. In the article, I think that Ms. Adam's students were more successful then Mr. Johnson because they analyzed homelessness in detail before they helped them. This article is important for this class because we are currently doing service learning projects. I believe that Kahne and Westheimer would agree with the approach that we use in our classroom because we have discussed many different elements of public schools and students in the schools while we are physically working with them. All of the articles and discussions in class helped me to understand the children more and get an idea of what they go through.