Why Volunteering and Community Service is Overrated, and Even Bad for Society
Do not worry if there is a brief period of silence during Professor Reich's
session. A practitioner of the famed Socratic Method of teaching,
Reich believes the purpose of intellectual challenge in a classroom is a
moral education that probes students' core beliefs and values - or, as the
character of Socrates emphasizes in Plato's Republic, the central question
is how one ought to live. If an interesting and unexpected idea arises in
the course of a classroom discussion, Reich believes teachers should be
willing to pursue it, even if they have no idea where it may lead.
Practicing what he preaches, Reich is a popular and award-winning teacher
who recognizes that spontaneous and unpredictable conversations make for
some of the best classroom experiences. In this session, Reich will discuss the moral landscape of community service and volunteering, the ethics of public service.
