Question: Essay on Volunteering

This Service Learning Project can be a continuation of volunteering you've done in the past,

Entry 1: Write an entry of 400 words minimum on why you chose your project. Discuss the life or work experiences that may have influenced your selection, including whether these experiences were positive or negative. Consider how issues of community, government or individual responsibility, leadership, productivity, problem solving, work ethic, and/or ambition might have affected your project selection. Most importantly, explain why your project is important to you, as well as to the larger community. Label this entry "Selection of the Service Learning Project."

Entry 2: Write an entry of 400 words minimum explaining how your project relates to two of the course objectives, Objective 12 and one or two others between 1 and 11 (do not choose objective 13). See the list of course objectives in the Introduction Above. Be sure to explain why you think these objectives are important. Label this entry "Service Learning Project Objective."

1. Explain the importance of such values as liberty, legal equality and equality of opportunity, tolerance, respect for dissent, self-reliance, and the pursuit of truth in sustaining and enriching America's experiment with democracy.

2. Analyze the origins of American democratic ideas in the political theories of such philosophers as Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau and critique each philosopher's political ideas.

3. Explain the structure of the United States Constitution and evaluate the strengths and limitations of such major theories of Supreme Court judicial review as strict constructionism and the living document theory. Apply this knowledge to current Supreme Court cases.

4. Critique the merits of two significant contending theories of American governance: the theory of limited government and progressivism. Apply this knowledge to current political issues.

5. Analyze the historically and morally necessary forces of change that brought an end to slavery and segregation, as well as to second-class citizenship for women and people of color.

6. Analyze the history of immigration to the United States and evaluate the ways in which successive waves of immigrants have both challenged and enriched American society and its institutions.

7. Evaluate the means by which America can continue to foster a society of inclusion, in which all types of diversity are respected, appreciated, and valued.

8. Explain the role of religion in the public square from the Puritan immigration in the 17th century through the American Founding in the 18th century to the series of 20th century Supreme Court decisions that have significantly separated church and state, and critique the arguments from both sides of this often contentious issue.

9. Analyze the major changes in the American family since World War II and evaluate the positive and negative consequences of these changes.

10. Assess the positive and negative impact of both moral absolutism and moral relativism on modern American culture and society. Apply this knowledge to their moral decision-making, particularly as citizens.

11. Analyze the ways in which free-market capitalism, socialism, communism, and a mixed economic theory compete in the modern world for social and political dominance and evaluate the strengths and limitations of each theory for a modern republic.

12. Explain the vital role of the citizen in creating and maintaining a civil society through voluntarism and civic engagement, a role that can complement and sometimes replace the role of the government in ensuring the well-being of society.

Note: The purpose of this entry is not to tell what you think the objective of your Service Learning Project was; rather, it is, as stated above, to relate your project to specified course objectives.

In entry 2 I should see spelled out plainly: My service learning project relates to objective 8 the changes in the American family since WWII and then tell me how. My service learning project relates to objective 12 Creating and maintaining a civil society by volunteering and civic engagement and then how it relates.

Entries 3-9: Narrate your experiences on the project each week for seven weeks-unless you combine entries, which is allowed, as long as they meet the minimum word count requirement.

Entries should simply be labeled with the appropriate entry number(s), for example, Entry 3, Entry 4, Entries 5-6, Entries 5-8, and so on.

Entry 10: For the concluding entry of 400 words, labeled "Conclusions," summarize your project, its relation to the course themes and readings, and your feelings about your project experiences.