Service Isn't About Self-Congratulation

To the editors:

The whole point of David A. Fahrenthold's column "Join the Harvard Corps" (Column, Feb. 29) is that the real world will make us realize that we've "already made it." This statement is disturbing. There's not a thing in Fahrenthold's column about striving for social justice or collaborating with and empowering communities. What there is is a sorry excuse for community service aimed at letting us pardon our apathy and making us feel like decent people when we're not.

It's lovely if you come out of the experience with a better sense of self, but if the point of Harvard students working in the community is so that they can realize they've "already got it made," nothing could be worse. What's good for the community is not good for some foreign group called "them." It's good for all of us. And none of us "have it made" until we all do.

Priscilla Chan '01

Charity D. Shumway '00

Feb. 29, 2000

The writers are programming chairs for the Phillips Brooks House Association.

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Drop the Attitude

To the editors:

Unfortunately, many students who read Fahrenthold's column (Column, Feb. 29) probably felt that, yes, we are better than everyone else and by taking a short one-time break to help someone out, we can realize just how much better we are. But it makes me sick to think that just because we are Harvard students we are above or separated from the rest of society. The cold and insulting nature that Fahrenthold takes toward everyone who is not as fortunate as we are is an extension of the pompous attitude that has come to be associated with Harvard over the years.

If you want to do service, make it real service. Get involved in someone's life. Become a dependable figure to a young child, give something back that counts. Service is not about the experience of the volunteer, service is about the experience of the people who are being helped. Real service takes more than one semester.

Ted Mussman '00

Feb. 29, 2000