Service Learning and Neoliberalism

Environmental Studies Program

Capstone Class

In Service Learning as a Pedagogy of Whiteness, Mitchell states that “faculty incorporate service learning because they want to bridge theory and practice, encourage active learning, and provide opportunities for students to develop skills in leadership, communication, cultural understanding, and critical thinking”. As we’ve discussed with the other Mitchell readings, SL allows us to take the theory we’ve been learning for ~ 4 years and put it into practice out in the world beyond school (although… we are still meant to be learning through these projects so is it “beyond” school?). So far, we’ve been reading about a lot of problems that can arise through service learning if the SL students do not think about their projects and personal beliefs beforehand. “Whiteness” as a pedagogy spread through SL scared me when I first read it, especially when combined with Neo-Liberalism. Am I participating in the “white savior” complex, and feeling good about what I’m doing when it’s really perpetuating the problems we’ve spent years studying and dissecting? We need to “pay attention to our biases, expectations, and traditions”, Mitchell says, because “without such examination, service learning can become part of what we call a pedagogy of whiteness—strategies of instruction that consciously or unconsciously reinforce norms and privileges developed by, and for the benefit of, white people in the United States. Service learning projects based on a pedagogy of whiteness have minimal impact on the community and result in miss-educative experiences for students”.

I think that it is imperative for students to learn about the pervasiveness of “whiteness” in the history of service learning (it originated in the US, according to Raddon), just as in the history of our country, but we cannot let that history deter us from our SL projects or from volunteering in general. ENST students are somewhat uniquely situated in a combination of environmental and social studies that include race, ethnicity, gender, ableism, ageism, xenophobia, classism, etc. which hopefully informs our SL projects in every way, down to the very place we chose to volunteer. I know that nobody is perfect, and that the neo-liberal entity that is the University gains from our community engagement even if that isn’t what we want, but WE HAVE TRAINED FOR THIS. You could see the excitement in the class discussions this week – people really feel that they can make an impact through their projects, especially regarding community involvement, education, and spreading EJ and SJ. That is a great feeling after the class discussion about the mostly negative arc of emotions that ENST students go through over the course of the degree. I’ve only been to the PU garden a few times and already I’m so happy just to be out there doing something, and I’m so excited for everything we are doing this semester. It’s sort of disorganized and we are just filling in the gaps and helping where we can, but it’s really heartwarming to contribute to the PU garden and I can’t wait to see how it transforms and how the kids interact with it / learn from it.

~Ciera