Community Service

Recently there has been much discussion in the media about whether social justice is being properly taught within the classroom.  Assuming that issues pertaining to social justice should be discussed within the classroom, what are some ways that a teacher could integrate social justice into the classroom?  San Francisco State University has released an article with ten different recommendations, and one that really struck my interest was that community service should be a mandatory component for students to complete.

I had not thought about this conclusion until reading the article, but I completely agree that at least a small community service requirement should be given.  As stated in Creating Classrooms for Equity and Social Justice, "traditional classrooms often leave little room for student involvement and initiative."  What better way to get students involved within the community than to have them do community service?  The students will be taught what it means to give back to a community, and depending on what the task entails, it could potentially address many of the inequalities schools fail to confront.  For instance, one of the boys I babysit attends a private elementary school, and his class goes to the homeless shelter once a month to help feed the people there.  At first I was incredibly surprised to hear that the children were allowed to do that at such a young age, and I assumed that it would be quite a frightening experience for him--but while we were talking more about his experience, it became apparent that he truly enjoyed the trips to the homeless shelter.  He told me that he felt good while helping feed people that had less than he did, which was quite profound to hear from the mouth of an elementary-aged boy.  Hearing stories such as this leads me to believe that a community service component would be a great addition to the current curriculum.  I think community service would help the students learn first hand about social issues that may not regularly be covered within the classroom.  It would help the kids learn life lessons that are just as important as any math or spelling lesson could be.