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.