What did you learn about the potentially helpful and potentially harmful nature of community service? What do you think separates the two? How can you apply this to your break? What is social justice and how does this apply?
Blog posts must be 200-400 words, proofread, and void of common grammatical errors.
Your blog posts are due before the start of class next week.
Please email kualbreaks@gmail.com if you have any questions!
The speech by Ivan Illych that we read for this class period was really enlightening about the potentially problematic nature of service work. While volunteer’s intentions may be good, Illych opened me up to the possible harm that a volunteer can do when doing service. The nature of the issue seems to be that we can never understand another human being or another culture entirely, and by trying to “fix” another by bringing them up to the economic, social and living standard that we understand to be commonplace, we all too often overlook the importance of their identities and their way of life. Even if volunteers are doing good work, the impact it has on the community could be really harmful in the long run. While Illych’s speech might be considered overwhelming, one thing is clear: we need to weigh the intent of our actions with their impact and, in doing so, consider whether our impact will be a negative or positive one. This topic of intent versus impact is regularly discussed by those who support social justice efforts. I don’t know the exact definition of social justice, but I will try to define it in fair terms, as well as I can: Social justice is the teaching, or effort, to create an equal and aware world for everyone, while specifically orienting the efforts of the community to consider and help those who are oppressed. The idea is to create an understanding, empathetic and considerate world for everyone. The work that I will do over Spring Break with Teach for America is an effort to help create equality among students. Educational inequity is a national problem, especially in inner city Chicago. The Teach for America program is designed to restructure classroom instruction and curriculum to create a better learning environment for students, and to increase literacy and graduation rates among at-risk populations. While I volunteer there, I will have to remember my privilege—as someone who has always had quality education available to me, and who has always done well in school, I have to keep in mind Illych’s warning. In some ways, I will never understand the plight of those who have not had the same opportunities as I have. While I will have to know how to step back and understand this gap, I still want to offer my services to others when I can.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the speech by Ivan IIlych, I was somewhat shocked at the viewpoint that was displayed through his work. I learned a side of volunteer work that I do not think many of us volunteers even consider before or after we commit ourselves to community service. At first I believed that the way Illych conveyed his message to us volunteers was a bit harsh and judgemental, although there are those few volunteers who do not have everyone's best interest at heart, but rather their own and their image in mind. I believe that Illych was basically trying to show us that when volunteering, a majority of the volunteers act in such a way that makes it seem like we are somehow better than those that we are serving, or that we automatically know everything about the community that we are serving. I believe that going into Ark Crisis Childcare Center that even though we have researched their facility and watched their videos that we cannot assume we know what is best for them, and that we know their story. It is very important to go into this trip with an open mind and no pre-conceived notions about anyone's situations. It is unfair to act as if we know exactly what these children have gone through despite what we've learned prior to our break. Illych did not talk much about the "helpful" nature of volunteering although I believe what separates the helpful from the harmful is having the knowledge that we are not there to show them that our lives are better, but we are there to show them that we have empathy for their situations and that we will do anything and everything we can to make a difference in the short week that we are there. Social justice as I understand it is a way to create a fair and equal environment for those who are suffering from inequality, and during this break my team members and I will take into account everything that can be understood from a harmful to a helpful volunteer and use this knowledge to create a memorable and equal experience for everyone.
ReplyDelete