Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer - "In The Service of What? The Politics of Service Learning"

1.       “As is commonly the case with new policy initiatives, however, more attention has been focused on moving forward than on asking where we are headed.”

This is an important quote in the article because it clarifies the article’s main point. Often, policies are implemented without the extensive planning that they deserve. An example of this in my grade school district was the Digital Graduation Portfolio. Several times throughout the year, this new graduation requirement was altered because it was not properly planned. Developmental changes for the advancement of a new project are one thing, but frequent unorganized changes are another. Also, no administrator or teacher was able to answer the questions “What is the point of this portfolio?” and “What goal does it attempt to achieve?” This was another indication that it was implemented quickly without planning. Similarly, Kahne and Westheimer write about service learning and how rapidly it is entering our education system without a well-developed, effective service learning strategy.

2.       “In Atlanta students simply write a 500-word essay describing their experiences. They never discuss their experiences as part of a course. In fact, many of the major legislative proposals have a minimal reflection component – sometimes for fear that such an orientation would diminish the focus on altruism.”

Christensen would not like this. With these policies, while the students are taking action by volunteering in their community, they are not analyzing or reflecting on their experiences in a meaningful way. Performing an action and writing about it does not reveal the extent of what the student has learned from the project. Meaningful reflection, such as class discussions, enables the power of one’s learning to be shown.  Learning should not stop with the project; it should continue with the reflection. Therefore, meaningful reflection allows for a greater degree of learning than writing an essay (which is frustrating to many students). The reflecting process can make or break a project, and in the case of being forced to write about it, will most likely break it.  

3.       “ ‘In the service of what?’ is a question that inevitably merits the attention of teachers, policy makers, and academicians who take seriously the idea that learning and service reinforce each other and should come together in America’s schools.”

Kahne and Westheimer are not arguing for or against one particular strategy of service learning. Their purpose for writing this article was to emphasize the importance of answering the question “In the service of what?” If we continue to advocate for service learning without answering this question, we could potentially end up with inconsequential strategies for incorporating service learning into the curriculum. Mr. Johnson’s project, for example, yielded a few unsuccessful results, which the two authors mention in this piece. The “So what?” of Kahn and Westheimer’s argument is that those in favor of service learning should come to a realization as to what the most effective service learning method is before implementing it.

This article was confusing to me at first because I was not able to fully distinguish between the “charity” and “change” types of service learning. However, after rereading a few parts, I believe I have developed and understanding. My view is that service learning, if done with a balance of charity and meaningful reflection, could teach students important values and help them change their views, in a positive way, of the people for whom they are providing service. In the article, Kahne and Westheimer describe a music class that went to a school in an area of poverty to perform for the students. The students were Johnsonizing about the school in the poor neighborhood; they feared what they thought they knew about the students who went there. This reminded me of VIPS because I feared going to my Providence school, but for the most part, the rumors I had heard about urban schools were untrue. Anyway, the students in the music class performed a service and learned from it. The initial learning was done at the school in the poor neighborhood, although it continued while they discussed their experience in class. If students are forced to perform community service without meaningful reflection, they are completing the service portion of service learning, but only partially completing the learning portion.