Volunteerism, Philanthrophy, and Service Learning

I did not complete the class assignment as requested. I did not volunteer at a site this morning. I feel that spending one and a half hour at some random place will not help me understand volunteerism. If I really did volunteer at some place, it looks like I am just a person the union does not really need. The only person I met from the union is the restaurant worker I interviewed during the break. But he told me that he doesn’t participate in every picket because he has to find a long term job. So I am basically a stranger, and I will feel uncomfortable walking up to them and saying, “Oh, I am a student at School of the Future. I am in a social change class and I want to volunteer here for 90 minutes so I know what is like to volunteer. I do not think volunteering for this short amount of time in a unfamiliar place is going to teach me about volunteerism.

Even though I didn’t volunteer today, I have volunteered before. There was a summer where I volunteered at a local summer camp that teaches American born Chinese students about Chinese culture. I feel this is a worthwhile place to volunteer at because this is funded by a non-profit organization designed to help advance Chinatown. This school fights the Americanization of the Chinese society. A problem I see is that many Chinese children who are natural born citizens here are somewhat separated from their heritage. My friend Nian calls these people “bananas” because they are yellow on the outside but white on the inside. Many “jook sings” (a Chinese slang term for American born Chinese children) considers themselves more American than Chinese. Since when did American become a race? By Americanizing minority populations, the majority can weaken the power of the minority, quoting Thoreau, “A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority.”

This school teaches the truncated curriculum of the ones present in mainland China schools. I feel I am helping my community by contributing an effort to keep Americanization away from children in my community. So every weekday that summer, I will help the teacher tutor struggling students. I will sometimes lead class when requested by the teacher. I teach the students (5-6 year olds) the meaning of Chinese characters and their construction. Some kids make an effort to learn, others are just there because their parents put them there. (This school’s summer program is considerably cheaper than other summer schools by at least $400, because this is a non-profit organization and hires mostly volunteers.) I enjoy volunteering there, because I am also in the same situation as them. Even though I am not born in the US, I still feel Americanization is trying to infect me. I am more fortunate because my connection with Chinese culture is deeper than those jook sings. By volunteering there, I feel I am making social change.

Volunteering is an excellent way to contribute to what you think should be done. You are making a complete effort to try and accomplish a goal. You are contributing 100% and not taking anything away. Most social change organizations have limited funds, so if the organization is distributing the already thin pile of money to people, then the efforts by the organization won’t be that significant.

Volunteering does have its limits. It can only help municipal problems like keeping streets clean or educating children/adults. It cannot end wars or stop the exploitation of third world countries by corporations. By volunteering, you are contributing your labor power to do something on a small scale. Plus, having just a few people volunteer isn’t too effective because most problems require significant amounts of people to contribute. Lastly, we live in a capitalist society. When we contribute our labor power, we expected to get a wage. So most people will have the mindset of not wanting to give labor power without a wage.

However, volunteerism will be more powerful if combined with service learning. Not only am I helping the situation, I am learning more about it. As a service learner, I can help spread the word about the problem. Since I have explored the situation to great depths and participated in the solution, I can teach others to do the same.

If you are rich and have no desire to sell your labor power, you can become a philanthropist. You can donate resources to the cause you believe is right. There are not limits to philanthropy. In this modern society, with large amounts of money and resources, one can accomplish many things, like making more advertisements or expanding to other territories. The only limitation to philanthropy is what the philanthropist thinks is the most urgent cause. Donating money to maintain Central Park is not as urgent as donating money to provide medication to sick people in Africa.