Sunday, December 11, 2011

AmeriCorps to help classroom teachers teach service

This seems odd to me. I saw an article in the local paper that an AmeriCorps staffer trained by "Partnerships make a difference" is working with our local teachers to incorporate service activities into lesson plans. Hmmm. We have tax supported colleges to train taxpayer paid teachers to work in tax supported schools. Our public school teachers with years of training and experience need additional tax supported college kids still finding their own career path to teach the teachers about "service?"

Service to our community and neighbor is a component of most religions, and if we can't let the Bible, which teaches the importance of service as a result of faith, into the classroom, isn't this just backdoor religious instruction?

So I looked up "Partnerships make a difference" and it turned out to be an OSU 501(c)3, a "non-profit" that gets government and private grants to exist. Locally, service projects are required in order to graduate, and they are important on college applications.

Here's an idea--one I've had for a decade. The teen-agers in Upper Arlington park on Northwest Blvd and walk 2-3 blocks to the highschool. This makes it impossible for the older people who live in those four-family units to shovel the snow in the winter, especially if the plows have been by and buried their sidewalks and driveways. Have each teen keep a shovel in his/her car, and before rushing off at the last minute, they could shovel 5 or 10 ft of sidewalk and driveway for the families they are blocking.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Today was great---you are so good at uncovering the truth and writing it.

Thank you for our faithfulness. Blessings DL