In the Service of What? by Jesph Kahne and Joel Westheimer
"altruism"- self-sacrifice, all heart, benevolent, good scout, charitable, considerate, generous, open handed. "The joy of reaching out to others."
The idea that all students take part in volunteer activities in either their school or community as a condition for graduation from high school, is wonderful!! It give the student a sense of completeness of oneself regardless of his grades. He could be an A student or a failing student, but when he completes these service hours he will feel a fulfillment of himself. Either way each student knows that he has a purpose and can help others feel good about themselves too. I do believe that service learning projects do promote moral development on both ends of the spectrum.
While reading this article I thought about myself prior to visiting my VIPs school and my stereotyped feelings that I had about going into a Title 1 elementary school. I felt the same way some of the students felt in the article when they thought they would find "horrifying children running around on a dirty campus." and "rude, tough, noisy, and very unfriendly people." I too was scared before my arrival into the neighborhood as I was careful by locking my doors and concerned for my safety.
I know feel comfortable each time I visit my VIPs school. It's unfortunate that we have these fears. Maybe it's because of what we see in the media that makes us feel this way.
President Bush's support for the National Community Service Act of 1990, gave me something to think about when he said "Government cannot rebuild a family or reclaim a sense of neighborhood, and not bureaucratic program will ever solve the pressing human problems that can be addressed by a vast galaxy of people working voluntarily in their own backyards." Made me realize more and more how hard it is to make changes in our society. Even by doing the most benevolent, charitable services change is hard to do. But it's worth the efforts to volunteer. It's worth the efforts to try!