In The Service Of What? by Kahne and Westheimer (refection)

While reading “In The Service Of What?” by Kahne and Westheimer a few connections and experiences that I can relate it to came to mind. During my high school years my school did many acts for people in need; homeless, hospital and many others. Most of the events done in the high school I went can be consider charities. For example my school made our homeroom teachers collect cans and other types of groceries for homeless people and people in need of it, and whichever homeroom collected more food would be announced in the morning announcement and also would have a pizza party. My point on telling my personal experience is that students brought cans and groceries so their homeroom wins the announcement and the pizza party. The school doing this to whoever wins makes the act not about the people in need but about the students themselves even though it’s something helpful for the people. It was charity because we were doing something good for the people in hunger. But I know the impact in the lives of those who received the food wasn’t effective enough to resolve the problem.

“Change” events also took place in my school. Donating blood is an event that throughout an academic year happens more than once. I believe this event is a change because when nurses go to collect blood to the school, they usually go to each lunch and sit with the students and educate them and give them information about how are they making a change and saving lives by donating blood. The fact that the nurses inform the students of the way they changing people’s lives just by donation of blood, many students felt engage and extended their research and asked many questions to the nurses. I even had friends encouraging me to donate too but I couldn’t because I had to be a certain weight to be able to. The difference between change and charity is that they’re both good for the society but change goes beyond just doing good, it’s also learning about the issue.