Panelists from Left to right: Teddy Gross, Matthew Hyde, Betsy Campbell and Kathy Payne. Photo by Andi Dube

by Arvin Temkar

Every 26 seconds a child quits high school. This is the dropout epidemic, and it plagues 1.2 million students a year. So far, tactics to improve graduation rates have been rather, it seems, ineffective. The graduation rate of 2007, according to some studies, is largely similar to the rate from thirty years earlier. But the world has changed since 1977. A high school diploma is no longer enough to guarantee a job, and the doors to upward mobility are slamming shut. In a panel discussion last Thursday at Philanthropy New York titled “Opening a Second Front Against the Dropout Epidemic,” experts spoke about a new tool to engage students and combat apathy— service-learning.

“They’re dropping out because they’re bored,” said Kathy Payne, Senior Director of Education Leadership at State Farm, “because nobody knows their name.” It’s not because the students can’t do the work. It’s because they aren’t equipped to learn in the traditional way.

Service-learning, the panelists agreed, is an effective way to educate in a manner that puts students in control of their own education. It is a bottom up approach, allowing children to explore, learn, and teach themselves and others by working to solve community issues and obtaining skills and knowledge in the process. Children in a service-learning program, for example, might discover that their neighborhood is polluted. They will then work to find solutions to the problem, meanwhile learning about the causes and effects of pollution, as well as techniques to organize their school and community for pollution clean-up, and so on. The important thing is that the students uncover the issues on their own, thereby taking ownership of the project and their education.

And, service-learning doesn’t need to start in high school, or even middle school. “Good service learning can start at 5 years old,” said Payne. It’s like the trend in health care— why try to fix the problem later on when you can prevent it by paying attention in early stages.

Through the Penny Harvest, thousands of elementary and middle school children participate in  service-learning every year. By taking part in the Penny Harvest’s Philanthropy Roundtable, students explore issues, give grants to community organizations that address those issues, then do hands-on service to cement their understanding of the challenges at hand.

“Philanthropy is a tool for education and critical thinking,” said Teddy Gross, Executive Director of Common Cents. “Giving away money really does sharpen the mind.”

Since 1991, Penny Harvest students have donated over $7.6 million in grants. Last year the children gave over 400,000 hours of service. And 95% of Penny Harvest teachers believe that the program has a positive effect on academic performance.

Other experts on the panel were Betsy Campbell, Vice President of Programs at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund; and Matthew Heyd, Associate Director of Trinity Wall Street.

47 years ago Martin Luther King called on the nation to keep its promises. Today we have seen his dream fulfilled in many different ways, but deep issues remain. If students can learn service at a young age, and through that service realize the power of learning, then perhaps one day one more dream can be accomplished— the dream of an educated America.