In the Service of What?

I personally feel that service learning should be mandatory throughout some part of schooling. I had this requirement during high school and not only did it make me want to volunteer more, but it was something I am forever grateful for experiencing. I agree with the article completely when it says that service and learning go hand in hand because the amount of things that I learned while either on a service learning trip or during my "Christian Service" hours is innumerable. Throughout my senior year of high school I volunteered for an Arts Outreach Program, worked with special needs classroom, and went to Camden, New Jersey on a service learning trip. These experiences were all very different and taught me things that I will never forget. I am going to be very honest and say that I was probably affected more from the work I did than the people I served. Yes, I did spend time with groups such as the disabled, elderly, young children, and the homeless, but I feel as though I took away more from these experiences than they did. Part of me wonders if this is a bad thing and makes me feel like I did not do my job, but if I never went through it I would never have chosen the career I am aiming towards or volunteer as much as I do now. I especially feel that going through the experiences yourself, rather than having a spokesperson come and talk to you about it, is much or enriching than anything else. Part of my mission trip (where the photo above was taken) I was paired up with 2 other people from the group and had to prepare food for us with only $12 for the entire day. At first I was taken aback and couldn't imagine how 3 people would be supported with only $12, but after going through it you realize how many people do that every day but possibly with more mouths to feed and less money to support themselves. It is similar to the service learning we are currently doing. You never really know how well you will do in a classroom until you are thrown into one. You learn whether this is the career goal for you and you also learn things such as power within the classroom and how that plays a role within the school setting and with society overall. You learn not only from the teacher, but from the students as well. There is not a day that goes by that I do not learn something from the kids I tutor. Whether it is a different way of learning a concept or learning how to help them overcome barriers with reading or math, I am constantly learning during my tutoring sessions. Service learning not only aids the people you are helping, but helps you grow in more ways than one. My trip to Camden and working in a special needs classroom really opened my eyes to things outside of my comfort zone and outside of what I had been exposed to, and I believe that this is something necessary for everyone at one point or another. It is helpful to move outside of the bubble we grow up in and to see what life is like in another person's eyes. It changes your perspective on many things and is really beneficial. Unless you are taking a trip somewhere, volunteering is always free and organizations are always asking for help. It never hurts. 

Does Service Learning Really Help? is an article by the New York Times showing the technical side of service learning. It states that sometimes schools are more focused on what the students learn during their projects rather than the experience overall. It also shows how much time and effort is put into each service learning experience. It made me really think about everything I have done and how much the coordinators had to do so I could have the positive experience that I had. One quote I loved from the article is: “You’re not necessarily learning this for your class credits,” she says. “You may be doing this to learn about different and diverse population, which may not have anything to do with what your major is but will educate you as a person.” and shows that what you learn while participating in a service learning project does not have to directly correlate with the classroom or a specific subject, but are beneficial to everyday life and to growing as a person.