Pressley 1

Hannah Pressley

Dr. White

CORE 122A SP14

10 March 2014

Reflection on Service Learning Day

Going into this day of community service one thing caught me off guard: the

eagerness the people attending the session had to learn about technology around them.

Growing up I tried over and over to teach my unwilling grandfather about the Internet

and how it could transform his curiosity into intelligence. He never understood why that

mattered when he could just read the paper or if something important came along my

grandmother would inform him. Quickly I became impatient with his attitude toward

technology. Community members attending the session dumbfounded me when they had

growing curiosity on all aspects of technology and what it has to offer them. This allowed

my impatience to rapidly dissolve and I let myself enjoy teaching these eager adults all I

knew about the digital world, thats so familiar to the younger generations.

Never before have I been asked so kindly to help my elders something about

technology. Usually they only time I am asked about technology it is to look up a

restaurant for my mom or being scolded for texting at the dinner table, here these people

genuinely respected my ability to navigate the web. This experience opened my eyes and

helped me realize that my elders envy the knowledge of technology and all its benefits.

Although I do realize that it can be harmful to things such as quality family time at the

dinner table or grabbing the newspaper from the driveway and flipping through its pages,

the knowledge and benefits the digital world provides us with are endless.
 Pressley 2

Through the process of the community service it allowed my peers and I to

develop an idea of how to contribute as an important member of society and a better

citizen: personally responsible. Personally responsible citizens can be described as one

full of volunteerism and ready to contribute their service to the society, they usually a

well built character allowing them to engage with the community and act diligently to

help solve serious societal problems (Westhiemer and Kahne 3). On the date of each

individual whom participated in the community service project hosted by the CORE

class, everyone was able to help someone gain knowledge they could use to inform,

better, or contribute to their community. This may not seem as necessary as feeding the

hunger or donating tattered clothing, but in order to create equal opportunities and

increase the knowledge of the less educated volunteers must help teach how to navigate

proficiently online.

To answer the question if the project would qualify its volunteers as a justice

oriented citizen I would respectfully respond- no. Yet if I were asked if CORE has

allowed myself to understand how to act as a justice oriented citizen then my answer

would be- YES. Westhiemer and Kahne explain this as someone whom uses rhetoric and

analysis that calls explicit attention to matters of injustice and to the importance of social

justice (4). CORE personally allowed me to gain an understanding of what I can do to

act as a justice oriented citizen and thrive for a better functioning society. After noticing

what I can do to help my societal conflicts the question is asked- what is the difference

between justice and charity? This debate is further reviewed and analyzed by author

David Hilfiker as he determines charity impedes justice. He then discusses why advocacy
 Pressley 3

and education are important to haut this process and transform charity into justice. Push

our society in order to use charity to create more justice for its members (Hilfiker).

By my participation in this project I hope to decrease the amount of citizens

wedged in between the digital divide. Understanding there is a drastic gap in the

technologic advantages of the haves it creates more margins for the have-nots to

overcome. Already at a disadvantage by societys standards this large gap creates unequal

opportunity for income, education and knowledge. If there is no access or knowledge

about how to use the access the gap will continue for increase. Hopefully by participating

in this project I have helped inform at least one community member how to better use the

Internet and understand why access is a privilege. On a seemingly negative note I do not

believe this one person I helped will close this gap. To make a larger difference more

people must be involved and passionate about dissolving the digital divide our world has

come to know. Unfortunately its not as easy as it sounds to prove why the internet is so

important in becoming an informed digital citizen that is acting in the community and

actively partaking in political affairs, which is where our future seems to be taking us.
 Pressley 4

Works Cited

Hilficker, David. The Limits of Charity. The Other Side 36.4 (2000): 77-81.

Print.

Westheimer, Joel and Kahne, Joseph. What Kind of Citizen? American Educational

Research Journal 41:2 (2004): 237-269. Print.