TEN ARGUMENTS AGAINST SERVICE LEARNING that I have come across:
1. FROM (some) FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATORS: Service learning is not
"rigorous" enough. When you're out in the community, you're taking time
away from the "hard intellectual work" that college courses are supposed to
be about.
2. FROM (some) PARENTS: "I'm not paying all that tuition to have my kid
volunteer in a soup kitchen. If she wants to do that, she can do it on her
own time, not during class time."
3. FROM (some) PROGRESSIVES and others on the Left: Teaching students to
"serve others less fortunate" perpetuates the concept of individual success
and failure within a basically just system. It diverts energy, both
intellectual and physical, away from organizing to effect structural
change.
4. FROM (some) LIBERALS: Encouraging students to volunteer to fill human
service needs absolves the government from the responsibility of funding
high quality, comprehensive national and state programs.
5. FROM (some) RELIGIOUS LEADERS: Funded "service" projects are impure;
serving others is a moral duty from which no one should profit or make
their livelihood.
6. FROM (some) CONSERVATIVES: Funding government "service" projects like
AmeriCorps doesn't help balance the budget.
7. FROM (other) CONSERVATIVES: Too much helping of the poor keeps them from
putting in the necessary effort to pull themselves out of their difficult
situation. While lending a hand occasionally is neighborly, flooding the
community with willing helpers makes the poor dependent on outside aid.
8. FROM (some) COLLEGE STUDENTS: "Volunteering is all very well after I get
my MBA and am working for a good salary, but right now, I need to
concentrate on getting top grades and getting out of here."
9. FROM (some) COMMUNITY AGENCIES: "While we couldn't do without our
volunteers, all too often they come in here with their own agandas, their
own needs. For example, in order to satisfy class requirements, students
need to do a project, plan a party, take kids out for ice cream or for a
tour of campus, whatever. Frankly, our kids are tired. What they really
need is people who can make a long-term commitment to them, not something
that stops after one semester."
10. FROM (some) RECIPIENTS OF SERVICE: "These young volunteers don't
realize that accepting help without being able to give anything back is a
little demeaning. I work hard for my kids; I want the best for them, but
I'm not able to help them right now the way I should. The volunteers, they
have the luxury of giving their time... I don't know, it makes me a little
angry. And then, when I don't appear grateful, the volunteers are upset,
or blame me for being a bad parent. I can see it in their eyes..."
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Helen Fox Phone: (313) 936-3145
English Composition Board Home: (313) 668-7467
1128 Angell Hall FAX: (313) 764-2772
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1003
"Only by principled engagement can you be a force for change and hope."
Jesse Jackson, 1996
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