Benefits of Education in Service

Not only do those who volunteer benefit themselves, but the organizations they work with gain so much as well. In being involved with service learning, students bring so much knowledge to the table. Through their education around the issues they are working with, students are enabled to make even more of a difference. In a setting where students are encouraged to learn more about their population, what they gain from studying has a clear impact on the organization they work with. The learning component in the classroom of reading scholarly journals and knowing policies is almost an explanation as to why impoverished people are in that position. The research part removes the stigma from many populations the students work with. While many think people are poor simply because they are lazy, research shows differently. Because the students are able to learn about this, their perspective can change.

In Who Learns from Service Learning (Roschelle, Turpin & Elias, 2000), the authors explore relationships between students and the organizations they volunteered at through their service learning classes at University of San Francisco. Many of the students, like me, had a change in perception once they started to volunteer and learn more about a population. In becoming passionate about a population because of the things you learn through scholarly research and volunteering, the result is great performance at an organization. Supervisors and volunteer coordinators recognize these types of things. “The supervisor reported that Karen was exceptionally well suited for the job because she had a ‘real grasp on the causes and consequences of homelessness and was not a typical do-gooder who flakes out at the first sign of chaos’” (p. 844).  Students learn from the groups they serve, but those groups can also benefit greatly. Having a college student who is so willing and passionate is a wonderful thing for a non-profit; you can’t be in that sort of business for the money.

This brings a connecting loop between education and service. So many people in this country choose to turn their head and ignore the problems we have. We ignore the fact that there are homeless people right around the corner, sleeping on the sidewalk, and that the majority of them are children. We choose to ignore the fact that there is more to poverty than simply laziness, and that situations and circumstances have a lot of pull in these situations. We choose to ignore that we can stand up and do something about all of this, there are so many options. Education provides people with the knowledge to not only recognize our world situation, but to also do something about it.

For me personally, coming to Lesley was an eye-opening experience. It still is. I learned so much in class that I never even knew was real, and I still learn something new every day. In learning what is going on in the world, I was sparked to take action. There are so many opportunities in the city to be involved with social change. How can you learn about poverty and homelessness and just sit back and let it happen? I know that I sure can’t. This passion is reflected in all of the volunteer work I do, and I know people can see that. So take a moment, educate yourself, and do something. We have the power to change what we do not believe is right and fair.

References

Roschelle, A., Turpin, J. & Elias, R. (2000). Who learns from service learning? American Behavioral Scientist, 43(5), 839-847.

Our Lack of Psychological Diversity

Biomimicry is the practice of taking designs from nature to apply to human technologies and systems.  The natural processes of our world have created ingenious designs - everything from small bacteria, to human beings, to entire ecosystems have aspects worth copying.  As an example, humpback whales have a series of bumps on their flippers that allow them to spin very quickly underwater despite their large size.  This design is being copied and applied to windmills so that they spin faster and are able to harness more wind energy.  Also, the human lung has a complex filtering system designed to manage carbon dioxide intake.  Scientists are trying to figure out how to copy these properties and apply them to factory flue stacks to prevent CO2 from escaping into the atmosphere.

 

One basic principle of nature is that diversity supports survival, especially in disasters.  The more diverse an ecosystem the better that ecosystem will weather change.  I believe this principle is also true within the collective psyche of a large culture such as ours.  Following the ideas of biomimicry we can think of our collective cultural psyche as an ecosystem.  If there is large "psychological diversity" people will have a wide variety of ideas.  When presented with problems a culture with a large pool of approaches will be able to find and follow through with novel solutions.  But if there is little diversity with regard to how people view and live their lives the culture will more likely remain stagnant when faced with issues.

 

I would argue that currently our cultural and social systems are not emulating this principle.  Although we all share biological aspects of being human, the brain is flexible enough so that each human can develop a very unique perspective and way of being in life.  But instead our culture encourages us all to develop in essentially the same way.  People develop differing political opinions, beliefs about religion and spirituality, and different career paths.  Opinions and viewpoints differ, but ways of being in the world do not.  For the most part people all live their lives within a similar parameter.  Everyone is brought through the same school system taking the same classes - everyone is expected to try to find the highest paying job they can so they can consume at least what average people consume and hopefully more.

 

To an extent every cultural model will do this.  Humans are social creatures born with a biology that encourages them to copy the people they are surrounded by.  Those in the in-group, the accepted members of the "pack", have a better chance of survival when supported by their fellow humans.  No matter what the nature of culture will draw humans to think, act, and be similarly.

 

The issue is that our modern culture is so pervasive that humans all over the world are buying into it.  We eat different foods, listen to different music, have different hobbies, and even speak different languages.  But we all essentially live the same way.  We live to consume.  We live to go to work then watch TV before we go to bed and do the same things the next day.  Societies all organize themselves - organize the way human lives are lived within them - the same way.

 

As we live through this routine every day we reinforce the neural connections associated with it.  Our habitual ways of being become ingrained in our psyche.  Our culture becomes less and less psychologically diverse as our one way of being is repeatedly imprinted in the minds of the people.  But we live in an age where we need as much psychological diversity as possible.  We need as many perspectives as possible if we have any chance of finding new ways of being which will solve our current crises - environmental, social, political, financial, et cetera.

I can't say I have the solution to our losing psychological diversity.  I think a good start would be making our culture more accepting of the wide variety of individual perspectives and paths of growth that are possible.  If more people's natural way of being were respected and nurtured instead of being molded to fit the way of being of our culture then we would grow more psychologically diverse as more people developed their own unique approach to life.  At this point I believe any attempt to encourage different ways of living to emerge would be worth trying.  Hopefully we can find better solutions to our problems as different approaches to life are taken on.

Changing Perceptions of Poverty

When I first came to Lesley, I never gave a second thought to homelessness. In working with Lesley Delivers over the past 3 years on campus, my perceptions have changed dramatically. Initially, I was afraid of the homeless. This is a natural reaction, especially for people who have never been around this population before. The more exposure I had to them, however, the more I realized they are people just like you and me. Through many reflections and discussion around the issues of homelessness and poverty, I have seen that many people are fearful of homelessness because they do not want to be reminded of the problems in our society.

It is so easy in this day and age to slip into poverty and homelessness. For families who are living paycheck to paycheck, an event as simple as being laid off from their job can throw them right onto the streets or into a shelter. Because this issue is so close to home and so relevant in today’s society, people tend to avoid it. In recognizing these perceptions in myself, I was able to turn them around. It’s not easy, but with enough exposure and experience, I was able to understand where many of these people are coming from. Many of the homeless I run into have simply had bad luck, or are inflicted by a mental illness that leaves them unable to live a “normal” life. In having conversations with people I meet, I came to realize that they are people too. Many of them simply want the connection of talking to a human being since they have been ignored all day long. At the end of the day, they just want to be recognized. In doing service, both parties gain something here: my friends on the streets gain some recognition, and I learn something new from them.

The lack of knowledge around homelessness and poverty in general perpetuates the stigma around these issues. Many Americans believe that people in poverty are responsible for their own economic predicament. In learning more about their personal situation, this stigma can be thwarted. Students can gain this knowledge through the experience of service learning, which “integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities” (National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, 2013). Research has shown that college students who have been involved in serving learning projects have changed their perceptions around poverty. Students who participated in a particular program at Boston College “came away from the experience with a greater recognition of the structural factors that contribute to poverty and inequality in comparison to their peers” (Seider, Rabinowicz & Gillmor, 2011).

In allowing ourselves to get to know the people we serve, we gain a larger understanding of their life experience. Their personal stories are almost always different from what we perceive. Community service and service learning both act as catalysts in changing the stigma around poverty and homelessness.  This change in perception is important for everyone living in this country. If all Americans gave service a chance, and if they took the time to get to know the people they saw on the street corners every afternoon on their way home from work, the stigma would leave.

References:

National Service –Learning Clearinghouse. (2013). What is Service-Learning?  Retrieved from: http://www.servicelearning.org/what-service-learning

Seider, S., Rabinowicz, S. & Gillmor, S. (2011). Changing American college students’ conceptions of poverty through community service learning. Analyses of  Social Issues and Public Policy, 11(1), 105-126.