Service: Learning About Ourselves.... and others

If I am not who you say I am, then you are not who you think you are - James Baldwin 1968

How do you know who you are? Probably in part because people told you things about yourself and the group of people that formed the "we" and "us" to whom you belong. In part, that identity was probably formed in contrasting relation to those who were not part of that group.

All experiential or contextual learning implies something "other" than the normal experience the classroom. In reality the classroom provides a context and experience but the creation of these "new" teaching approaches ("pedagogies") imply that something different can be done to expand learning. The idea is to create a context of difference; something that forces the learner to pay attention to different things. Often the goal is ultimately self-knowledge, a crucial part of development as a human being.

In adventure education, the "outdoors" or "wilderness" is a major part of the context. By encountering the created world more deeply, or alternately, by presenting "participants" with uniquely disorienting challenges and problems in an outdoor context, we teach them something about themselves individually and as a group of people. The isolation and unique subdivison of the groups as well as the unique problems that present themselves (or are presented) create a unique social environment (thanks Dave Tanis). We may learn about nature ("the environment") and survival skills, but for the most part, outdoor skills are for the educator. Minimal competence and experience is an advantage to the learning experience because the learning relies on UNfamiliarity. If a "participant" is familiar with a particular challenge, they are also familiar with how to overcome it and thus, their capacity to learn something "new" is diminished, though not eliminated. This reality (as well as a playful sadistic streak) is what drives the amazing creativity of outdoor educators.

What about service-learning? The context may be rural or urban, national or international. Since most student (in the college environment of Messiah at least) don't serve where they live any of these contexts may be sufficiently "other" to provoke new ideas. However, service-learning faces a unique problem in the way identity can form in service. "Service" always implies a "served" other. Rather than "participants" who are there to learn something by finding and pushing against their own limits, one is the designated "servant" and it is implied that there is a need out there that the servant can meet.

A dichotomy is set up:
On one side is the "servant" - competent, responsible, theoretically need-less.
On the other is the "served" - they are uniquely marked as possessing a need that they lack the capacity to meet themselves.

Thus, "servants" are prone to approach the "service" context looking for problems that need the application of their existing competencies. Things that are not a problem (community assets), or not a problem that we the servants can remedy right now (systemic inequity), may be overlooked, but these MAY be the exact things that would provoke LEARNING. Those of us involved in service learning are obviously intent on the needs of the "servant," many of which correspond to and complement the needs of the "served." The dissolution of the dichotomy I described above and a growing sense of reciprocity and role-swapping is the key to learning.
We might begin by assessing our own deficits and critiquing our assumptions with questions like this:
Does MY community need service? Why or why not? What needs do I and my community have? Why do I think THIS community "needs" service? What could I learn from the community I serve? What strengths does it possess?

Christians are called to be disciples of Jesus. A disciple IS first and foremost, a LEARNER. One cannot be a disciple without the humility to admit that one has needs, even if they are only a deep-set and inarticulate sense of deficit in one's soul. Maybe we need to learn something about ourselves to figure out what that deficit is, and maybe we can't do it alone. God may intend to teach us these lessons through other "needy" people.
The irony of the whole arrangement of being a disciple is contained in the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25. Jesus calls his disciples to serve the most "needy" and he tells them that when they serve the "least of these," they will be serving Him. Jesus also communicates that this is something we "need" to do to experience the salvation of the kingdom of God. So when we serve, we must be mindful that there in the one we serve is the one to whom we attach ourselves as LEARNERS. We need to become the disciples of the "least" of these, in order to understand who we really are.