Community Service

In Herzberg’s article on community service, he states that students typically strategize their own existence within the world instead of focusing on their responsibility to form a continually improving citizenry. When students are put into uncomfortable situations in dealing with people in need, they form their own superficial opinions about the causes that led to the condition. Herzberg argues that students do not gain a “social consciousness” by simply working among the less privileged. The article focused on a shelter that had residents that were illiterate and/or schizophrenic. I found disturbing the article’s assertion that opinions and decisions were made by educators regarding individual children’s lack of academic potential at a very young age. Young children tend to internalize these beliefs, which often become self-fulfilling prophecies, in which the children become that which they are expected to be. Children grow and learn at different paces, but most are capable of eventual productivity and success. Through inhumane methods, educators have sabotaged the potential success of these children’s futures. The fact that a young child does not score as well on a test as some others, should not be taken as an indication that that they have less potential and should get less support and privilege. Herzberg blames the ideology of meritocracy, which is the idea that the smartest individuals who work the hardest will achieve the greatest success in life. The corollary to this idea is that the poor and needy are stupid and lazy. This view wrongly assumes that everyone started from an equalized place, which is a foolish concept. Clearly, not everyone has had equal access to the same resources, education, or community support. Only when this misinterpretation becomes an accepted part of our national consciousness, will useful help for the poor and homeless be found.