westheimer reading

• "He experienced the joys of service, but he had few opportunities for meaningful interactions through which caring relationships and understanding may develop"
• This represents the inherent problem with certain ways we teach kids charity.  In the fashion taught here, the kids only learns that homeless people need help but not necessarily how.  Never in this lesson is the kid taught to communicate with the homeless or humanize them; not to mention the removal of the homeless from the conversation about helping them.
• "In contrast, much of the current discussion regarding service learning emphasizes charity, not change."
• The way the conversation should go in regards to helping homeless people shouldn't solely be about helping them with gifts or food.  I am in no way saying charity does not have it's place, but we also need to consider that the situation needs to change.  We need to teach kids ways to advocate for the homeless instead of just charity alone.
• "One student wrote "Everyone at the school had good manners, and I think more highly of (the neighborhood) now"."
• By getting students to go out into these communities, we can create a more human picture of the homeless.  We right now characterize these people as unruly, uneducated, and lazy; but that is far from the truth.  We simply need to shine a greater light on the people who actually do live in this situation.