The Power of Service Learning / ED 716 Response / Week 3

In many school districts, service learning projects are a requirement for graduation. However, these types of projects often emphasize the need to help those who may be construed as "lesser" than ourselves.  

How do you see service-learning as an educational vehicle for global competence?

I believe that service learning can be a very useful vehicle in educating for global competence. However, I believe that we must be careful not to approach it as a “have” vs the “have-not” type of intervention. Service learning shouldn’t be just something to put on a resume. Any type of service learning should be viewed from a standpoint of community responsibility. We are all in this together, and we should do what we can to improve the quality of life for the community as a whole and for everyone who is a part of it.

My school does not have a specific service learning requirement for graduation, but students are required to take civics which offers opportunities for community service. Also, in order to be inducted into the National Honor Society, students must have community service hours. The school has various clubs, such as InterAct which focus on service. Another opportunity exists for students to participate in the annual United Way Day of Caring. Students go out into the community to work on various projects such as painting cabins at the Girl Scout Camp, or clearing trails at the Nature Center. I believe that service projects help students to think beyond themselves. Creating an understanding that students have a responsibility to their local community is a necessary first step in creating students who are globally competent.

Successful service learning is invaluable. I think of my son, who participated in several Habitat for Humanity projects while in college. He went on several domestic trips during college, and after graduation he was part of a Habitat project in Papua, New Guinea. He did a great deal of fundraising to go to New Guinea, and he spent a month there, building a house for a family. Afterwards, he told me that the experience was life changing for him. It gave him a perspective on happiness and what was important in life that he never would have had before. He saw that people who had less in the way of material goods were not “lesser” in any way, shape or form. He came away in awe of how happy people can be without any of the conveniences we consider to be necessities of life. He came away with a deep respect for a culture that was distinctly from his own.

As Veronica Boix and Anthony Jackson say in the book, Mastering Global Literacy, globally competent students must be able to “recognize perspectives (others’ and one’s own)” (p. 10). They also must have “the capacity to communicate ideas effectively across diverse audiences” (p. 10). “Investigating the world and taking action are of no lesser value” (p. 10). Service learning affords individuals the chance to understand issues, broaden perspectives, communicate across cultures, and take action. What could be more important?

Citations:

Boix, V., & Jackson, A. (2014). Educating for Global Competence: Redefining Learning for an Interconnected World. In Mastering Global Literacy (pp. 5-27). Bloomington: Solution Tree.