Robby Enslen
Professor Rinke
WRT 150
October 24, 2011
“Serve or Fail” by Dave Eggers
The article “Serve or Fail” is written by a man who attended the University of Illinois. Eggers goes on to talk about all the spare time he had in college that he used doing random activities with his friends that had nothing to do with college. The point of the article is to show that you only need to go to school for 3 years and to do a lot of voluntary work. Eggers says that voluntary work should be a requirement for all classes because it benefits students and they are helping a good cause.
Three main points:
One point of this article is to show the reader that you should only have to attend college for 3 years because there is a lot of spare time as it is now. Another point of this article to express the fact that students should have to do voluntary work in their spare time. Also, the voluntary work should be a requirement for all classes.
What I noticed about the author is that he only talks from his point of view. Not all students have that much time to spare in college. What about people with jobs or students who play sports? Voluntary work would be very hard for these students.
“Service Learning More Than Just a Fad”
The article “Service Learning More Than Just a Fad” is about a group of Minnesota college presidents who get together for a campus compact and talk about service learning. Service learning is the same thing as voluntary work. The author talks about the importance of service learning and how it can have a major impact on someone and how people should do service learning more often.
Three main points:
One point of this article is that money is tight in education. Another point is that service learning helps the schools because they won’t have to pay for it. Also, everyone benefits from service learning such as students, professors, and the people around them.
What I noticed about the author is the fact that he or she just cares about saving money. They don’t talk about how service learning is a good action because it helps others. I feel like the article is written to show the reader that money is tight so students should do voluntary work to help them.
“How to Reduce Student Dropout Rates” by The Monitor’s Editorial Board
The article “How to Reduce Student Dropout Rates” is about how service learning helps students to stay in school because it gives them real life experiences. The Monitor’s Editorial Board goes on to talk about how important it is to start voluntary work at a young age. In the past service learning has gone up in America and this is one of the main reasons.
Three main points:
One point of this article is that service learning makes kids stay in school because they engage in the real world with real experiences. Another point of this article is to show that you should start kids doing service learning when they are really young so it becomes a habit. Voluntary work has also gone up in America due to the fact that they are starting at an early age.
I believe that the author has a great point when it comes to starting voluntary work at a young age, but the only problem I have with this is the fact that not all communities are like the examples the author has in their writing. I think the author should talk about how you would impact all kinds of communities.
I SAY:
Three main points:
Service learning is a great way to help make our world a better place. Although getting students to do voluntary work will be tough. Therefore, if you are trying to get students to help with voluntary work you are going to have to reward them with something such as credit for a class. Service learning should also be brought upon students at an early age so it becomes a habit to them.
After reading these three articles I have come to the conclusion that service learning is a great idea to be brought upon all students. As long as the voluntary work is for a good cause and it will impact the student. Therefore I don’t disagree with anything that the author’s had to say in these articles.
The authors all agree on the fact that service learning or voluntary work would be a great idea for students. Where they might differ is at what age should the students start doing voluntary work. Some of the articles talk about students who are in college, and others talked about students at a young age.
