Does community service really change anything?

Christian Science Monitor by Raj Mundra | Dec. 29, 2008 (Opinion)

What are the crucial social issues? The answers to those questions are complex. And listening was crucial for participants.

Dust swirled as we trudged through the littered, stifling streets of Dharavi, in Mumbai, India. Climbing a ladder to the windowless room that a family of six calls home, I thought: What does this impoverished community really get from our school's efforts at community service?

What long-term benefit does any ... Full Story »

Posted by Fabrice Florin

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Subjects: World, U.S., Business, Sci/Tech, Education
Topics: Poverty, India, High School, Social Change, Water
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Posted by: Posted by Fabrice Florin - Dec 28, 2008 - 12:25 PM PST
Reviewed by: Fabrice Florin (review), Kevin Barry (review), Glenn LaBauve (review)
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Edited by: Fabrice Florin - Dec 28, 2008 - 12:55 PM PST

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Fabrice Florin
3.8
 by Fabrice Florin - Dec. 29, 2008

Insightful observations about a recent experiment where American high school students spent three weeks in Mumbai, India, to serve in one of Asia's poorest areas. The author, one of the trip's organizer and a biology instructor at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass, shares their findings thoughtfully and fairly. He concludes that "getting students from America and residents in the slums of Mumbai out of their comfort zone is exactly the foundation that was required for real change to occur."

What we have learned about engaging a foreign people in community service is that those who become part of the process are the ones who are truly served by community ... More »

Fabrice posted this story.
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Glenn LaBauve
4.2
 by Glenn LaBauve - Dec. 29, 2008

While some might dismiss this as rah rah feel good, it undelies the precept of community service that many schools used to require.

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Kevin Barry
3.9
 by Kevin Barry - Dec. 28, 2008
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