This question was posed by an ESHA member in the discussion of Muddy Waters' presentation, "The World from Another Perspective: ESHA in Kenya," at the 2010 ESHA Conference:
The best of our service learning programs will go beyond the important goals of giving students meaningful, relationship-based, interdisciplinary experiences in helping the needy and of developing the understandings that come from helping others with fewer resources. Exemplary programs will have at their core the goals of developing our students' comprehension that basic human needs transcend place and of building their sense of both local and global citizenship in a context that is of mutual benefit for the members of both organizations involved.
Service on a variety of levels enriches understanding in other areas, of course. For young children, this includes supporting the emerging concept of simultaneously being present in a school, city, state, country, continent, and world; kindling an appreciation and interest in the breadth and richness of the world's cultures; and developing a working knowledge of world geography.
Christian Harth and Rev. Jennifer Deaton of St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Mississippi made a compelling presentation on this topic at the 2010 National Association of Episcopal Schools (NAES) Biennial Conference on November 19, the premises of which are offered in a recent article by Harth in Independent School magazine, "Going Glocal: Adaptive Education for Global and Local Citizenship" (Fall 2010). Harth stresses the importance of developing identities and connections to multiple communities. Borrowing a term from British sociologist Roland Robertson, he urges us to think of a "glocal" schoolhouse:
Photo:
"Nesting places," NAES Biennial Conference presentation, "Ubuntu, "Glocal" Service, and Educating 21st-Century Citizens in the Episcopal Tradition," 11/19/10
(Photo credit: Claudia Daggett)
Why would an independent elementary school get involved in a service learning project in Kenya when there are so many local opportunities to serve people in need?My response, shared then but developed further over the weeks that have followed as I have talked with colleagues, read, and reflected:
The best of our service learning programs will go beyond the important goals of giving students meaningful, relationship-based, interdisciplinary experiences in helping the needy and of developing the understandings that come from helping others with fewer resources. Exemplary programs will have at their core the goals of developing our students' comprehension that basic human needs transcend place and of building their sense of both local and global citizenship in a context that is of mutual benefit for the members of both organizations involved.
Service on a variety of levels enriches understanding in other areas, of course. For young children, this includes supporting the emerging concept of simultaneously being present in a school, city, state, country, continent, and world; kindling an appreciation and interest in the breadth and richness of the world's cultures; and developing a working knowledge of world geography.
Christian Harth and Rev. Jennifer Deaton of St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Mississippi made a compelling presentation on this topic at the 2010 National Association of Episcopal Schools (NAES) Biennial Conference on November 19, the premises of which are offered in a recent article by Harth in Independent School magazine, "Going Glocal: Adaptive Education for Global and Local Citizenship" (Fall 2010). Harth stresses the importance of developing identities and connections to multiple communities. Borrowing a term from British sociologist Roland Robertson, he urges us to think of a "glocal" schoolhouse:
"While knowledge of Western heritage remains necessary, it grows less sufficient daily. Increasingly, all students should have awareness of, and appreciation for, cultures from around the world — near and far. Moreover, they need to understand their global and local contexts and the various levels in between."Claudia
Photo:
"Nesting places," NAES Biennial Conference presentation, "Ubuntu, "Glocal" Service, and Educating 21st-Century Citizens in the Episcopal Tradition," 11/19/10
(Photo credit: Claudia Daggett)
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