Every human being created in the image of God is endowed with a power akin to that of the Creator-individuality, power to think and to do. While college students may not master the range of an academic field, they can acquire a sense of their own powers to contribute to the well-being of others. Through innovative projects of their own design they can experience the exhilaration of creative thought and action. Through community service they can sense the strength that comes from working together for a worthwhile cause. 2 Second, service learning can counter the wrong line that students are being fed about competition.
Service learning presumes a cooperative mode of interaction.
I would not deny the legitimate role of competition. But it is the secondary rhythm in the music of life, like the waves on the surface of the sea. In real life we are more prone to make communities of cooperation and assistance than we are to go to war. We are bound together by a system of governance that works only when we cooperate and dare to trust each other. What is true about this small human institution is true of our larger society.