Last week, the Washington Post published an article about Maryland’s mandate for all graduating seniors to complete 75 service learning hours. Of 35 states with policies on service learning, Maryland is the only state that requires service for graduation. Not surprisingly, many seniors put off this requirement until spring break of their senior year, leaving many in a last-minute rush to complete the hours. As a teacher in Baltimore City, I have also seen the spring break rush first-hand.
The larger question raised in this article is whether Maryland ought to have a service learning requirement. The intent of this requirement is to encourage students to gain experiential learning through community organizations. However, when students wait until the last minute to complete their service learning, the possibility of having a meaningful experience diminishes. Because of the rush of students during spring break, many charities and community organizations cannot accommodate the sheer number of students who want to volunteer.
Although Maryland could force students to spread out their 75 hours over a few semesters or even years, I think this would be far too difficult to monitor and enforce. Instead, I think teachers should infuse service learning into the high school curriculum. This way, service learning is not just a requirement that seniors must complete for a diploma, but a relevant learning experience.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/spring-break-for-seniors-community-service/2012/03/14/gIQAsfpqWS_story.html
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I love that Maryland implements a service learning requirement. In theory, Service-learning combines meaningful service to the community with curriculum-based learning. Through service learning, students are supposed to take what they learn in school and apply it to the real world. Yet, you bring up a practical point. If high school seniors wait until their last spring break to fulfill the requirement, is the service-learning requirement purposeful?
Instead, Maryland should require that students periodically carry out the requirement. Beginning in the 6th grade, students should be responsible for fulfilling a specific number of service learning hours. Each student’s guidance counselor would be responsible for keeping record of the service learning hours.
Service learning projects can also be performed during the school day. Teachers could be held responsible for implementing a service-learning project during the course of the school year. This project could be performed in or out of the school building. This takes some of the pressure off of students, yet allows the original purpose of service learning to be accomplished.
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