In the Service of What?

     This article explains to us the importance of Service Learning and how it can have a profound effect on ours, and others education. Throughout this semester we have all had the pleasure of volunteering and I didn’t really realize until I was doing it how it really tied all of our learning together. To be able to see things in action that we were talking about in class has helped cement the learning in my mind. This article also states that service learning “fosters an authentic experience based learning opportunity”. This is exactrly what service learning has done for me and the article provides real data of how it has changed students lives. 
     I think if we made service learning a curriculum requirement, we would see young people who are more in tune with the challenges of the world and engaged in the critical thinking process that allows us to feel empathy for others. I think the most profound part of the article for me was when Mrs. Johnson’s class has to actually reflect on their experiences and it causes them to become more meaningful. It is not enough to simply volunteer, sometimes, we have to reflect to really develop that empathy for the community we are helping. Reflection, although not the star of the show so to speak, does cause students to gain a deeper understanding of their work.