Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Getting the little kiddos involved
As many of you probably are, I am so happy that Salwen's work is not the same as Singers'. It would have been a little difficult to read about what I NEED to do and how I am basically intentionally hurting those who are less fortunate (although I do believe I am doing great things, clearly from Singer's standard, I am not.) Generally I enjoyed this weeks assigned reading and there were so many things that stood out to me. One thing that particularly caught my attention was the section entitled "Hannah's take: Helping Small Kids Start Volunteering". Out of all the chapters and subsections in this book I personally believed that this subsection is very important for the simple fact that children are our future, and as cliche as it may sound, it is very true. First and foremost I believe that it is very important to teach kids from their young age the importance of service and giving. Like sponges, kids absorb what they see and what they are taught when they are young so it is very crucial to open their eyes inform and teach them about the many things that are going on out of sight that they can help fix. When I was young, I was enrolled in a community center in which I would assist in feeding the homeless on thanksgiving, and conducting different drives during Christmas. The exposure that I received from this community center was tremendous because it helped shape my passion to give back. I notice that my little siblings have not had this exposure, and in turn, have no thoughts or passion to give back like I do. I actually notice this with many kids who live in my neighborhood (particularly my building). They have no interest in volunteering. But the problem goes beyond these kids. Some parents do not value volunteering and have never volunteered in their lives. With this being said, if the parents are not involved or weigh volunteering heavily; what steps should we take to inform these kids? Not all schools teach the importance of service, so how should we approach something like this (trying to teach kids how to volunteer/get them involved)? Is this even important to anyone else?
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Jelissa,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this post, partially because this is what I was going to post about next time I need to post. With that being said, I believe that part of the reason that there are children who don't value philanthropy, is because, as you said, there are parents who don't see the value of instilling such an important aspect into their childrens' education and upbringing. With that being said, I believe that the schools can require each student do community service in order to graduate. As a high school student, I was required to complete at least 25 hours of community service per year. Combined with the values my parents instilled in me, I believe that this greatly enhanced my upbringing.
I certainly think that other schools can adopt this type of policy, with two intended results. The first is that children whose parents do not stress the idea of philanthropy and giving of oneself at home will be exposed to this potentially beneficial point of view. For those individuals whose parents do stress volunteering will have whatever they are being taught at home further reinforced. In essence, there is no downside to having schools enforce some type of community service, it can only be beneficial to the students, their families, the school, as well as society.
Thank you for replying to my post Max, and I definitely agree with everything that you have stated above. Being that kids spend most of their time in school, and learn the majority of what they learn in school and at home, if parents lack the ability to inform their kids on the importance of service and volunteerism, it will be very effective to instill a "volunteer requirement" in schools.
DeleteJelissa, I think it's a great idea to teach kids the value of philanthropy at school, whether it's in class or extracurriculars. Like Max, my school had a "senior seminar" class where one was required to complete a certain number of hours of community service. In addition, as a member of the National Honor Society, I was required to donate my time as a tutor and spend 4 hours every month volunteering around the community. I think, though, my favorite philanthropic endeavor in high school wasn't from a service club at all--it was as Secretary of the math honor society, Mu Alpha Theta. At Christmas, all members were asked to donate around five dollars. With those funds, the club sponsor (my AP Calc teacher) and us officers went on a big shopping trip and bought presents for needy children. It was fun to go shopping with my friends (and a very cool teacher), but it was more fun than our other meetings in that we knew we had a greater purpose. Something like that would be great for schoolkids--rather than "Ugh, I have to go waste two hours volunteering for some class," it becomes, "Hey, I get to hang out with people I like and do something meaningful."
ReplyDeleteWhen I was visiting with my family my 15 year old cousin told me that he volunteered at a local meal center with his parents and I was really impressed. Then he told me the only reason he went was because everyone there, volunteers included, were entered into a drawing for a free gift. The one and only time he went, he won. Now this may have been a good incentive to increase volunteers, especially the youth, but I do not believe that this is the best way to get young people involved or teach them about giving.
ReplyDeleteIn a school or church organization I feel that there is more discussion on philanthropy which shows the kids why it is important to give back. When the children are only volunteering so they can win some material good, they will never understand the passion that some people have for philanthropy or gain some understanding of the hardships others face. If parents are taking their kids to volunteer as a family I believe that they must discuss these issues with their kids so the kids understand what they are doing and why it is so important. Maybe if someone had talked to my cousin about why they were volunteering he may have given more of his time.
Jelissa,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your assessment that we need to teach kids about service and giving at a young age. As I have written in my issues paper, although it is focused on education in general, I am approaching it from the same way in that we need to instill proper beliefs in students when they are still forming their ideas about life. However, that isn’t to say that it is too late for people to learn about giving when they are older, but it would take a lot more willingness from the person. It can be compared to learning a new language. Psychologists say that there is a critical period (about the age of 13) where kids should learn a new language in order for them to fully master it. It is still possible to learn after that age, but it is just easier when the minds are moldable.
An example of this is myself. My family and friends have never preached community service or giving to me at all. I don’t think this makes us bad people as Singer would claim, but many of us were just never really informed. The only giving I have done besides for school related activities was giving clothes to good will. Now, I have become informed about philanthropy and the need for it. After this class I plan on being involved a lot more in efforts to help society. Using these examples, the best way to teach philanthropy is to have students read about the need and benefits of it. They should also see societal problems firsthand and the younger we are able to get to students the more effective it will be.