#ideation12 You want to get me riled up? Let's talk about alternative breaks.

So today I went to the pre-conference intensives for Ideation 2012.

And the first person I talked to happens to know one of my really good friends from college (that I already had plans to meet up with for dinner tonight - small world).

Anyway, she brought up this article : http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/forum/mogilevsky-alternative-student-break-s-impact-is-only-skin-deep-1.2688865?firstComment=0#forum

To which I had to respond, because the article got me riled up : 
"It's interesting – so this is the org that I'm on the board of directors for : http://www.alternativebreaks2012.org/ and their philosophy: http://www.alternativebreaks2012.org/philosophy/

From the article: "This is why I feel that ASB is really more about the students than about the people and communities they're helping.
It's more about the students' experience, their desire to learn about others, their need to feel helpful. To put it less charitably, it's a way for rich kids to feel good about themselves."


Haha, this article hit a nerve for me - I completely agree with the first sentence, and completely disagree with the second two.  I was on the ASB student board for UIUC, and this kind of debate happens internally to the planning boards. I think ASB is more about education than it is about service – a good ASB program will do a pre-break and a post-break service component in the community of the school (not sure about NU, but  a common counter to some of the arguments in the article). I think the point of ASB is about education – it's about opening the eyes of students who might have just thrown $5 to a charity before that now have exposure to the people affected by the issue (or, what some of the root causes ACTUALLY are rather than just what the media/society  say the problems are). There are plenty of ASB organizations that focus on the service side and not the education side – but I think they are missing the point."

But - read the "site comments" on the article. It's a few months old, and there are some good comments (note - that's not my college, and not my ASB program, but it's part of the AB movement). Says the professor's daughter who grew up in Lexington, KY very middle class, very privileged, and wouldn't be where she is today without the 7 ASB trips from college and the 2 years on the planning board. Not a single one of those trips focused on Early Childhood Education, but here I am working at a non-profit that focuses on ECE. So many of my ASB peers went on to do Teach For America or something else of "notable social impact". ASB opens your eyes and helps you build a network, when it's done right.

.... And that's why I'm on the Break Away Board of Directors. Any questions?