How helping others could well boost the economy

Service learning generally promotes positive attitudes, social development and is associated with improved academic outcomes, writes Justin Thomas

The idea of development through service has gained momentum within higher education.

In 1516 the word utopia was coined by Thomas More. Derived from classical Greek, the word literally means “no place”. This was the title of one of More’s books, a work that described in detail an idyllic imaginary island, a place called Utopia, where gold and silver had no value, there were no wages and all people worked together to serve each other’s needs. This community service was limited to six hours per day, leaving lots of study time. For the Utopians, happiness was best derived from improving the mind.

Community service and the improvement of the mind, however, need not be mutually exclusive. Within some societies, service towards others, khidma, has been viewed as crucial to self-improvement. Saadi of Shiraz, the 13th-century poet, made this point in his poem Bustan (The Orchard): “The way to improvement is not other than the service of the people.”

In recent years this idea of development through service or “service learning” as it is often termed, has gained momentum within higher education. The idea is as pragmatic as it is elegant: why not meet important community needs while also acquiring valuable knowledge, skills and experience? How many fresh graduates are left red-faced and tongue-tied at job interviews when the person across the desk asks: “Tell us about your experience?”

An increased emphasis on service learning as part of an undergraduate degree would certainly help beef up the experiential element. The type of experience gained from service learning is potentially far beyond that gained from internships or sporadic volunteer work. The emphasis in service learning is on the development of civic responsibility as much as, if not more than, the acquisition of specific career skills. Those who love a society most, serve it best.

Research looking at the effectiveness of service learning generally finds that it promotes positive attitudes, social development and is associated with improved academic outcomes. One study published in the Journal of Experiential Education, in 2011, looked at the impact of service learning on a sample of close to 12,000 students (11,837). Compared to control students – those who had never participated in service learning – the service learning students showed significant improvements in attitudes towards themselves, attitudes towards education, social skills and academic performance.

Consider also that one of the keys to happiness, as known to wise people throughout the ages, is to help others. A recent publication by the British charity, Action for Happiness, lists the 10 keys to happiness. The 10 keys are all based on extensive psychological research and “helping others” is high up on the Action for Happiness list: “Helping others is not only good for them and a good thing to do, it also makes us happier and healthier too. Giving also connects us to others, creating stronger communities and helping to build a happier society for everyone.”

In addition to its contribution to the knowledge economy, service learning can also make an important contribution to our well-being and happiness goals. Service with a smile isn’t about faking a grin to keep the boss happy. In reality, serving others actually tends to make us smile the smile of sincerity.

So what might some new service learning courses look like? Perhaps one course could get psychology students to routinely refine and deliver a psychological well-being programme across the UAE’s schools. Another might get psychology-students involved in a hospital visiting programme, in which they could fine-tune their active listening skills while bringing comfort to long stay patients.

Picture a place where students learnt valuable life lessons, fine-tuned complex skills, cultivated civic responsibility, improved academic performance and at the same time contributed towards addressing some of the community’s most pressing challenges. Thomas More did not describe the universities of Utopia, but I’m sure service learning would fit well with his vision.

Dr Justin Thomas is an associate professor at Zayed University

On Twitter: @DrJustinThomas