Drew Adams

Tierny

Global Entry

October 15

Service learning if not done right can cause more harm than good. Read the article “Does
Service Learning Really Help” and consider both the benefits and potential challenges of
service learning. Then, write a proposal for how AGS should approach service learning in
order to provide the most value for students and the community.

Service Learning, Is it Really Helping?

Service learning is defined by the University of Washington as “​Service-learning refers to

learning that actively involves students in a wide range of experiences, which often benefit

others and the community, while also advancing the goals of a given curriculum.” Often times

people believe any work is good work, in some cases this is not true. On mission trips that people

go on to build schools or housing they can end up doing more harm than good.

In 1998 John W. Eby wrote a paper on why service learning is bad. He talks about how

service can alter the perspective of the person going on the service trip by beautifying the

situation a community could be facing. An uncited score from Eby’s article explains that service

learning does not address real community problems and instead is teaching students of irrelevant

issues. The reactions from service learning highlights the exciting and fun parts of the learning

and then often times masks the underlying issues.

 When told that someone you know has performed some form of aid to a third world

country you would never ask “Did it really help” but you should wonder to yourself if they did

truly help. There are programs where teenagers go to countries in need and perform medical

surgery on people in need. This is the type of program someone who wants to be a doctor in the

future may like to attend. But the risks of the lives of the people on the operating table are hardly

considered when these programs start. You may send your child away thinking that they are

doing wonders for the society of the small area in need of medical help but in reality they are

doing much more harm than good. The people in those areas have no idea that the people

performing these surgeries have only been taught the mere basics and are just following the

instructions of the doctor on standby.

Away from school programs such as the type I just described sometimes are done in the

summertime. The time and effort a parent puts into sending their child away could really only

take the convincing from a three paragraph entry on a website. An entry promising the change of

a lifetime and that their child could come back as a whole new person. The service based

learning industry is hardly focussing on those in need that are being promised help but more

focused on the money being earned by the companies that are sending the kids to the places in

need. The money spent would be better off just donated to the places in need instead of sending

your child in need of new experiences away for a month.

When it comes down to service based learning the most important part is to truly know

what you are doing and understand how your actions impact those you swear to be helping. If

you have an understanding of what is going on when you are working in other places then

service based learning can be a wonderful thing.

 Resources

www.washington.edu

̈ ̈Service Learning ̈

M. Clevenger-Bright

https://www.nytimes.com

“Does Service Learning Really Help?”

Stephanie Strom