Talking Points #5

In the Service of What?
Kahne and Westheimer

Quotes
1.  "In his inaugural address, President John Kennedy challenged the nation with his well-known appeal:  "...ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.""  I think that we should be asking "what can we do for each other"  instead.  Our country was built on the principles of democracy, so we are the country and we should all be one big community.  We need to work together to fix the problems instead of working against each other, creating more.  Service learning is a start of a way that we can help each other.

2.  "What kind of society does service learning lead students to work toward?"  Service learning is leading us to a society where people care about each other and show it by reaching out a helping hand.

3.  "For example, one student worked in a center for babies whose mothers had high levels of crack cocaine in their bloodstreams during their pregnancy."  This quote absolutely sickens me to think that people do this to their children before they are even born.  I wanted to be a nurse before I entered into the teaching career.  I had heard stories about things like this, but never witnessed it.  I hope I never have to either...it really bugs me that people do not think before they do things and it affects many people. 

Every action we do will affect at least another person in some way or another.  Service learning is a positive enforcement that will keep people out of trouble and keep them headed in the right direction.  I feel as though doing it at a young age feels pointless because I was there, in high school, and thought the same thing.  However, much like the other articles we read, children learn by example and if they are brought up doing good deeds and service learning, they will be more likely to help out in the future.