These Learning Links provide ten quick-and-easy, five-minute mini-lessons to promote student thought and dialogue about service and civic engagement. You may use as many of them as you wish, and in whatever order best meets your needs and the interest of your students. The purpose of these mini-lessons is to provide a deeper understanding of philanthropy (the giving of time, talent, and treasure for the common good) and to reinforce the lesson focus. These Learning Links also promote the development of character traits, civic engagement, and student leadership. As appropriate to your grade level, it is recommended that students play an active leadership role in presenting these mini-lessons to their classmates.

1. Read: In the year 2000, the United Nations made a commitment to make the world a better place. The world’s leaders agreed to solve eight basic world issues when they established the Millennium Development Goals. One target ensures that, “by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.” The UN created a list of recommendations to help countries reach the goal. They asked schools to drop the fees required of families, especially poor families. They encouraged governments to increase the percentage of the national budget going toward education. The UN recommended that humanitarian aid after an emergency focus on education. And they encouraged schools to provide transportation and free textbooks for students, and meals at school to improve student health. As a result of this goal, many countries in the world dramatically increased their school enrollment. Although there was great progress, in 2009, there were still millions of children not enrolled in schools. With the target year approaching, the UN leaders challenged countries to increase their efforts to meet the deadline.
   Discuss: How does making a goal with a group of people help you reach your goal? Is our service project more successful when we work together to reach a goal? How do planning and creating a list of tasks help us reach our goal? How does setting a time limit affect the outcome? Do you have some ideas for how the UN can reach their education goals by 2015?
   UN Millennium Goals, 2000
2. Read: In a high school in New Jersey, seniors take on the role of initiating freshmen into their new school. The seniors want to make sure the new kids know who is boss. The initiation may take the form of pushing, blowing loud whistles in their ears, and putting sticky notes on their backs. The most destructive hazing tradition at this school includes a list created by a group of 12^th grade girls. The list that is widely distributed describes attributes of about twenty freshmen girls in negative terms. The whole point of the initiation is to humiliate the newcomers. Why do the seniors do it? “We had to go through it when we were freshmen,” says one senior girl anonymously. “It’s all in fun,” says another.
   Discuss: What are some ways people initiate new members into a social group? Why do you think humiliation (or embarrassing) is used to initiate? What do the senior students get out of it? How is this like bullying? How is it different from bullying? What can bystanders do when they see this type of behavior?

3. Read: Ali lives in Jordan in a refuge camp. Because his father is ill, Ali has to work fulltime at a restaurant to earn money for his family. He works all day and cannot go to school or spend much time with his friends. Ali’s job is to make falafel, which is a fried chickpea ball or patty. It is crispy on the outside and served in pita bread. Ali grinds the chickpeas, makes the falafel, and drops the balls of dough into boiling hot oil. Once he burned himself badly on the hot oil. He is careful not to cut himself on the sharp knives he works with. Sometimes he has to lift heavy vats of oil. When Ali is done with his shift, he also cleans up the restaurant. Ali is very smart. He would like to go to college someday and get a better job. But for now, the fifteen-year-old has to put off going to school.
   Discuss: What are some opportunity costs of working fulltime for Ali? What are the benefits? What aspects of this job are not appropriate for a fifteen-year-old, and why? What action can we take to improve basic rights for children like Ali in the world?
4. Read: In writing about taking action for the common good, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Cowardice asks the question - is it safe? Expediency asks the question - is it politic? Vanity asks the question - is it popular? But conscience asks the question - is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right." 
   Discuss: Can you cite other people in history who have demonstrated this same philosophy of taking a position because “it is right,” regardless of whether the position was popular or safe? Have you ever been asked to take such a position? If so, in what circumstances? During our service event, do you think you might need to make the same decision Dr. King made and advocate for justice and fairness even if it is not a popular or safe position? Give examples.
5. Read: Have you ever heard the phrase “enlightened self-interest?” Do you know, or can you guess, what it means? (Allow time for responses.) Enlightened self-interest is a philosophy in ethics, which states that people who act to further the interests of others ultimately serve their own self-interest. Or, in simpler terms, when we help others we inevitably help ourselves.
   Discuss: In what way might this apply to the life and work of Dr. King? Do you think enlightened self-interest is a factor in the acts of kindness and justice we are doing for our service event? What part should enlightened self-interest play as a motivation for “doing good?”
6. Read: At a recent Parent-Teacher meeting, one high school counselor shared with the audience what students had shared with him about why they thought they didn’t “fit in.” The students cited: differences in appearance because of financial resources and/or preferences; differences in family structure because of separation, divorce, or death; differences in educational background and learning styles; differences in family customs and beliefs; differences in values, goals, perspectives, and support systems and differences in social standing and athletic ability. All of their reasons focused on differences.
   Discuss: Do you think that this counselor identified all the major reasons, or can you think of any other reasons, why someone might feel that they don’t “fit in” with their classmates? It was Todd Ruthman who said, “It’s the things in common that make relationships enjoyable, but it’s the little differences that make them interesting.” Especially during our service event, how can we not only tolerate differences but also proactively accept, appreciate, and encourage diversity in our school and community? In what ways might our focusing on how we are alike as opposed to focusing on how we might be different make a difference?
7. Read: The European white settlers were the first to call it a peace pipe because that is one of the ways they saw it used. But to northern Lakota Sioux Indians, it was better known as a ceremonial pipe associated with many of their sacred traditions. In their culture one belief was, the stem of the pipe represented the Animal World, while the bowl of the pipe represented the Plant Kingdom. Consequently the whole of the pipe represented Creation. Because the areas from which the materials for the construction of these pipes came were consider neutral grounds among warring tribes, the pipes were also used by the Native Americans in ceremonies settling conflicts between tribes.
   Tobacco made of herbs and grasses was the most commonly burned in the pipe.  Tobacco is considered sacred in many different Native American tribes. While the pipe is being filled, a prayer was said to each of the four directions as well as to Mother Earth and Father Sky. After filling the pipe, some tobacco would be sprinkled on the ground and the pipe would be lit and smoke would be blown into each of the faces of those present. Often this tradition was misunderstood by non- Native Americans, when it was actually a sign of kindness or respect.
   Discuss: How do you think most people would react if someone were to come up to them and blow smoke into their face? Why is it important to know and understand something about culture and traditions when interacting with people unlike ourselves? How is our service event an effort to get to know people better? How is it an effort to bring peace to our school, community, and perhaps even to Earth we all share?
8. Read: When asked by their Civics teacher to share what would make an ideal world, the students of Somewhererville High School responded by listing such things as chocolate éclairs on every street corner, surfing in Hawaii, fancy sports cars, Xboxes, appearing on American Idol, hitting the game winning homerun, skiing in Aspen, etc.. Eventually, they added such things as having no homework or housework, being free to do whatever they wanted when they wanted, having as much money as one could possibly want, being responsible to no one, being free, and so forth. No doubt we could all add some things to this list, but listen closely to this statement:
   Freedom without responsibility, doing whatever one pleases to do when one chooses to do it without regard for the rights of others would result in a world of chaos. Such freedom destroys freedom.
   Discuss: How might the ideas of an “ideal world” expressed by the Somewhereville High School students destroy freedom rather than be examples of it? How might our service event contribute to the ideal of freedom by promoting the concept of personal and civic responsibility?
   www.personal-development.com/chuck/freedom.htm
9. Read: On September 25, 2006 Rutgers University's football stadium was transformed into the Dalai Lama's open-air classroom where a crowd of about 36,000 people gathered to listen to this spiritual leader's lecture on "Peace, War and Reconciliation." This spiritual leader, who in 1989 received the Nobel Peace Prize for advocating nonviolent solutions to nations in conflict, dressed in a red and gold monk's robe with prayer beads around his wrist, spoke to the crowd about the obsolete nature of war and alternative ways to reach compassion and peace. He shared:
   “The idea of "[destroying] your enemy is an outdated sort of concept. With modern science advancing and the world becoming increasingly interconnected, making war on other countries and people is essentially self-destruction. Eventually, I think the whole world should be free of nuclear weapons, and I call for all countries to trust each other and to ban nuclear, biological and eventually all offensive weaponry. Hopefully, our dream should be [to do this] by the end of this century or the next…. for peace is compassion.”
   Discuss: How does Gandhi’s quote “An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind” fit with the Dalai Lama's comment concerning nations at war? How would you define compassion? What would compassion look like in our school, our homes, our community and our world? To what extent do you think that our efforts for service are motivated by compassion? Will promote compassion?
   www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives
   /2005/09/26/news/13202.shtml
10. Read: A local newspaper recently ran the story of a homeless man who was killed as he walked across a busy intersection late one night. The reporter who covered the story said that the man was wearing dark clothing which made it difficult for drivers to see him…His name was Gary. Most nights Gary slept in a tent behind a liquor store after being evicted from his trailer for failure to pay the rent. During the winter months, he would offer to shovel snow for a small fee and during the summer months he would pick up odd jobs when and where he could. He was a quiet man who kept to himself. Nobody seemed to take the time to get to know him, so when he died, many people felt a loss without really knowing why?
    Discuss: Why might someone feel a loss without really knowing why at the death of this homeless man? The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines "a person who is homeless" as someone who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. Homelessness is a global problem. According to a 1996 United Nations report, an estimated 500 million people worldwide were homeless and that number grows each year. What can we do to address problems, like homelessness, that require our compassion, justice, and fairness?