Our education is directly linked to us wanting to make a positive impact in this world. In SOC-STD 68EC: Education and Community in America we often discussed John Dewey’s perspectives on education. How he believed that to learn, we must do. But how he also believed that to learn, we must reflect on our doing. Through service work I have learned by doing, learned how to work with young people, manage a staff, form community partnerships, and turn a vision into a structured program. Through reflection on this doing I have started to think more critically about youth power and voices, structural issues impacting local communities, methods for creating change, and how I hope to dedicate my life to this work. This class provided a space for reflection on service: we used our experiences with our service programs to put John Dewey’s philosophies into context, critique them, as well as critique ourselves and our service work. The class was a space that combined the different facets of my college life and brought together the usually separate worlds of academics and public service for a holistic learning experience. To know that Harvard is prioritizing the public service field, providing students with the financial and institutional support to grow and learn as they follow their ambitions to address society’s most pressing issues, is empowering.
Yasmin Issari ’16
