Activism and Service Learning

I thought this reading pointed out key points about the limitations of service learning and what needs to change in order to bring social change through activism. I never looked at these two words separately but it is essential to understand that activism brings change at the grassroots level for actual community work to be effective. A part of this reading that stood out to me and that was later discussed in class is the question "Why are we doing this?". Why do I want to go out and do "community service" and help others. I found this question hard to answer at first with an actual meaningful answer. I think that everyone should have an answer to this and get involved for the right reasons. There were some points in this piece which I didn't agree with. The piece talked about how "how much understanding can develop from one afternoon's visit to a homeless shelter or a food bank"...I disagree on this point and that one that has never done any form of service can learn alot from just being there and working with others around them. Interacting with others can open there eyes to do this form of service again or not, i think small steps must be first taken in order for greater activism to take place later on and one time visits shouldn't be seen as insignificant.

I agreed with the Bickford and Reynolds point of writing with the community and that the past community service I done through school has always been about what problems, issues and difficulties I had with community service and what I did to overcome it. These types of questions allows for the us versus them barrier that jeopardizes actual change in the community. But it should be about what were the issues of the classroom settings which caused certain behaviors of students. I think their needs to be change in the academic sphere about teaching students at a young age what activism is and so people don't have negative connotations as they grow older.