Service learning and high school diploma Research Paper

Service learning and high school diploma - Research Paper Example Service learning and high school diploma Service learning wouldn’t benefit the students’ education. Indeed, many students would be unable to volunteer in their field. This negates any argument that service learning would help the students’ education†. The above argument is also illogical. The aim of education is to prepare the children to meet all sorts of life challenges effectively in future. In other words, it is ridiculous to argue that a science student should get practical experiences only in science topics. It should be noted that for conducting a successful future personal, professional and social life, he should acquire all sorts of knowledge even if he is specifically studying the science or arts during his school days. Service Learning programs must have specific goals in mind, and a system to support them. It should connect community services to the learning goals. In some cases, people develop service mentality because of genetic reasons. However, genetic reasons alone may not help a student to acquire service mentality. Suitable environment will help the students to develop more service mentality. In order to develop the suitable environment for service learning, planning and preparations are necessary. To conclude, service learning should be made mandatory in order to prepare the students better equipped for meeting the life challenges in future. Theoretical contents learned from the classrooms will become meaningful only when the students were able to apply it in the practical context. Service learning will help the students in doing so and therefore service learning should be made compulsory to earn a high school diploma. ... In their opinion school is a place in which learning should take place rather than servicing. However, such people have forgotten to realise the fact that learning by doing is the most efficient method of the learning process. Students may get lot of contents from their text books; however they will never realise the importance of such contents in the absence of practice. For example, students may learn more about Mother Teresa and her contributions from text books. But only those who take part in the community servicing will learn more about the depth, breadth and greatness of Mother’s services. According to Jonathan Sims, the student representative of Maryland state board of education, â€Å"students who are forced to community work may view the work as something to get out of the way and they will become clock watchers† (Morris, p. 4). The above arguments seem to be meaningless. In my opinion, when planned properly, service learning allows students to utilize their c lassroom learning, and use it in a real life situation.  It is difficult to create a wall between education and servicing. In fact the ultimate aim of education is servicing. Whatever the knowledge acquired by a student while learning, becomes meaningful only when he applies it in his personal, professional and social life. In other words, service learning will help the students to apply their knowledge learned from the classrooms. According to Ron Peiffer, Director of communication and special projects at Maryland state department of education, â€Å"when opponents argue that we cannot mandate volunteerism, they are ignoring the basic goal of required service programs ie, education† (Morris, p. 4). â€Å"Training throughout the mentoring experience would have helped to make

Are reason and emotion equally necessary in justifying moral decisions Essay

Are reason and emotion equally necessary in justifying moral decisions Theory of Knowledge - Essay Example 2006). The fact about reason and emotion being the same, there have been various questions involving the nature of the two concepts, one pertinent being "are reason and emotion equally necessary in justifying moral decisions" Only a meticulously analyzed study and discussion of the question may find an exact answer to this. Therefore, the most focal thrust of this discussion has been the question in the backdrop of the issues of abortion and ethnic cleansing. Abortion which is "the removal of a fetus from the body of its host (a pregnant woman) which typically results in the death of the fetus" (What is abortion 2004) and ethnic cleansing, "the attempt to create ethnically homogeneous geographic areas through the deportation or forcible displacement of persons belonging to particular ethnic groups," (Ethnic Cleansing. 2008) are the most obvious present issues which magnetize our rational and emotional deliberation of the issues in arriving at moral decisions. Consequently, in this discussion, we try to find out the magnitude of both the philosophical concepts in our moral decisions. "Everything human is part emotion and part reason All domains of knowledge lie somewhere between these two end points; with music being the end of the line at emotion and mathematics being at the end of the line at reason" (Human Essence is Pattern! 2006). A comprehensive analysis of the issues of abortion and ethnic cleansing clarifies why emotion gives you musical effect and reason mathematical. On the one hand, these issues are to be looked at and comprehended on the basis of emotion so as to side with the suffering, the affected, and the neglected. It is necessary to see things in this direction so that the moral considerations are given due attention. When we discuss the consequences of abortion and ethnic cleansing, we need to identify the moral factors that make the people miserable and victimized. In this sense, emotion has a wider relevance and scope in moral issues concerning humanity. As the Bhagavad Gita establishes, it "has the advantage of being open to all, the weak and the lowly, the illiterate and the scholar. It is seen to be as efficacious as any other method and is sometimes said to be stronger than the others, since it is its own fruition, while other methods are means to some other ends" (Diploma Program, Theory of knowledge Guide. 2008). However, on the other hand, moral decisions cannot always be arrived at by considering emotion alone as it would be a thoughtful activity. The basic characteristic of human beings, as may be by far identified, is that they are rational beings and therefore we need to use our reason as well as emotion in taking moral conclusions. "David Hume wrote that reason is a "slave to the emotions." But new research suggests that in our moral decision-making, reason and emotion duke it out within the mind" (Shea 2006). For a better understanding of the concepts, let us consider the issues of abortion and ethnic clearance and analyze the role of emotion and reason in arriving at the right moral conclusions. First we will examine the role of emotion and reason in making a moral decision on the significant and often discussed issue of abortion. Abortion is a topic of common discussions and most