Molly Cannon Cannon 1

Dr. Carole Thomas

HNR 211
9/2/2023

A couple of the quotes from reading “Social Change 101” stuck out to me. I think these

quotes describe what I am expecting to get out of my service. The first is, “When the school

introduces and trains each child of society into membership within such a little community,

saturating him with the spirit of service, and providing him with instruments of effective self-

direction, we shall have the deepest and best guarantee of a larger society which is worthy,

lovely and harmonious.” This quote was said by John Dewey and the part that speaks to me the

most is the end where he states what our society would be like if the spirit of service was

instilled in everyone through the education system.

This is one of my expectations while completing my service. I would like to understand

different parts of society that I may not have experienced yet. For my volunteering in particular, I

have read articles about domestic violence and human trafficking, and I have worked an exhibit

about these topics in a museum, but I have never been able to meet a person who has

experienced it firsthand. I think with topics such as this, if we never experience it, we don’t

understand how widespread or how severe of a problem it is. I expect that throughout my

service, I will gain more of an inside perspective on domestic violence and human trafficking.

While it sounds depressing to learn about to most people, I am very happy that I get to become

more informed. I think it is necessary, especially as a young woman, to be informed about these

issues in our society. By being informed, you can better understand what is going on around you,

not only to better protect yourself, but to also better protect people around you who may be in

this situation. In short, my first expectation for volunteering at Sisters in Shelter is to help me

become a more informed person in society to better protect myself and others around me from

domestic violence and human trafficking situations. Along similar lines, I expect them to inform
 2

me of how these situations occur in Tiffin, and tell me if there is any way that we could prevent

situations like these from happening.

The second quote that stuck out to me in the reading was “(Education) either functions as

an instrument that is used to facilitate the integration of the younger generation into the logic of

the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes ‘the practice of freedom,’ the

means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to

participate in the transformation of their world.” This is a quote from Paulo Freire about how

education can allow people to discover how to transform their world. This is one of the major

things I am expecting to learn from doing my community service. By speaking with survivors of

these situations, and hearing how these situations happened to them, I hope to learn how to better

spread awareness to prevent these situations from happening. One thing I am very interested in

learning is how to spread awareness to men about these topics. Many women are already aware,

but a lot of men do not even realize how common domestic violence and human trafficking are

in today’s society, or the warning signs to look out for. By the people at Sisters in Shelter

teaching me how to spread awareness to others, it could make a big change in society. The more

people are aware of domestic violence and human trafficking and their warning signs, the harder

it is for perpetrators to get away with it, especially in public places.

Some of the things I expect to do while volunteering would be to make sure everyone in

the safe house feels comfortable and I will be there if they need anything or someone to talk to.

By talking with these people, I hope to learn more about what I wrote about above, and I hope

the employees at Sisters in Shelter will meet my expectations by educating me on what I wrote

about above in my expectations. Outside of the 40 community service hours, I will spread

knowledge and awareness of what I learn to the people around me.