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Krista Kyker
Shepherd University
Dr. Cole Monday Evenings: 4:30p.m.-7:00p.m. Education 200 section #4

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Abstract
The Service Learning project completed by Shepherd University students enrolled in the
Education Program during the fall semester of 2015 proved to be a very positive experience.
Overall, the Job Corps program focuses on training young men and women to be active
participants in the global economy. The curriculum that these students receive, includes the
social, political, and economic goals of the Public School system within the United States.
Shepherd University students spent ten hours outside of their own classroom, interacting with the
faculty and tutoring the students enrolled in the Harpers Ferry Job Corp program.
Keywords: Job Corps, service learning, social, political, economic goals, public schooling

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Harper’s Ferry Job Corps: Social Goals
The Job Corps program in Harper’s Ferry West Virginia provides an alternative style of
education for students who need a second chance. One of the major goals of this type of
institution is to provide students who live in failing school districts quality instruction that
includes moral lessons and social etiquette. Horace Mann advocated school as a “social center of
community life”1 Mann believed that providing moral instruction in the classroom would build a
sense of community. His goal was to unify social classes, reduce crime, and produce well-
rounded students. The Job Corps institution resembles Mann’s school of thought by bringing
multi-racial, ethnic, and religious students together inside the classroom and dormitory settings.
Job Corps provides students with small class sizes, individualized curriculum, and moral
instruction, with the goal of creating productive and well-rounded members of the community.
Harper’s Ferry Job Corps: Economic Goals
Public Schools do not provide equality of opportunity for all students. Inner City schools
are the prime example of failing schools in the public education system. The direct “relationship
between family income and educational achievement”2 illustrates the educational gap between
students from wealthy families and students from low income families. Harper’s Ferry Job Corps
strives to give students from low income families and/or school districts the opportunity for an
equal education. The goal of providing equality of opportunity for education is not to guarantee
wealth, but to guarantee “that all members of society are given equal chances to pursue wealth
and enter any occupation or social class. “3 John Dewey’s vision for “the new role of the school
1 Spring, Joel H. American Education. Page 30
2 Spring, Joel H. American Education. Page 55
3 Spring, Joel H. American Education. Page 55

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was to serve as an agency providing social services and a social center.”4 By offering better
nutrition, health care, and sex education to students, the public school system could bridge the
income gap that prevents lower income students from succeeding. A child with a mouth full of
cavities and an empty stomach is less likely to perform well in school than a healthy child with a
full stomach and a decent place to live. Harper’s Ferry Job Corps offers students a safe place to
stay while achieving their educational goals and receiving job skills for their future. Students
who successfully complete the program will receive job placement and will be given the chance
to succeed in life. This opportunity offers students from low income families and failing schools
the equal opportunity to achieve an education. While living on site at Job Corps, students do not
have to worry where their next meal is coming from or if their electricity will be on when they
come home from school. Job Corps prepares students to compete in our global economy and
gives them the opportunity to be successful member of society.
Harper’s Ferry Job Corps: Political Goals
Creating productive members of society that can make informed decisions about our
society is another goal of the public education system. However, students in failing school
districts do not always receive the knowledge they need to become responsible citizens that
actively participate in our government elections. Job Corps is a secure institution that teaches life
skills, job skills, and educates students about the world in which we live. The staff and faculty do
not encourage students to share their political views, instead they provide the students with a
well-rounded view of society and encourage them to think critically and make well informed
decisions. The students are educated on the importance of voting and encouraged to take sides on
political issues that will affect our community. Understanding the structure of our government
4 Spring, Joel H. American Education. Page 30

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and their individual rights as citizens will help these students to achieve their future goals and to
take a stand against injustice in our political framework. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
“requires states to guide instruction in local public schools.”5 The goal is to create a country of
unified and well-informed citizens who can work together to create a stronger national economy.
What I learned and Personal Goals I Achieved
The Harper’s Ferry Job Corps experienced taught me to think on my feet and be flexible
inside a classroom setting. I did not realize that the student’s at Job Corps were expected to learn
a majority of the curriculum themselves. I was surprised at how much responsibility these
students were given and that their hands were not held during the process of obtaining their High
School Diploma. Due to these factors, students were grateful for the help that I could offer them
during tutoring sessions and it inspired me to want to go the extra mile for them. One of my
goals at Job Corps was to help students learn how to correctly write and format an essay. I spent
some of my personal time at home creating a form for the students to use in order to write good
papers. Another goal of mine was to help a student who struggled in Math master decimals.
Again, I created a form to help him learn to convert decimals to percents by turning all decimals
into money. Using the analogy of money helped this student understand how important
conquering decimals was to his future economic stability. This experience taught me how to use
my student’s interest and incorporate his interest into a comparable lesson. After all, everyone
like money! I believe that these tutoring sessions were vital to teaching me flexibility which will
benefit my style of instruction in my future classroom.
5 Spring, Joel H. American Education. Page 19

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My Reflection
The service learning I completed at Harper’s Ferry Job Corps changed the way that I
view public education. Reading about the social injustices of education does not compare to
experiencing what those social injustices do to a student’s confidence. Watching these student’s
struggling to understand how to form a grammatically correct sentence, while struggling with the
spelling of every word they wrote, was heart breaking. All of the students who I worked with
came from low income families and had learned to spell and write in the same slang that they
speak. Teaching these students the correct way to write was difficult. However, watching them
struggle with the knowledge that not one person in their public school experience had taken the
time to show them the correct way to write, was worse. I could not help but wonder how many
other students from underprivileged families had been overlooked because no one thought they
would ever succeed? The Harper’s Ferry Job Corps experience made me want to be one of the
teachers that recognizes students who are struggling, and find ways to help them overcome the
personal obstacle in their life, that are keeping them from success. Men like Horace Mann and
John Dewey understood the social and economic factors that effect a child’s success or failure in
public education. The government has passed laws to protect students in low income and failing
school districts, but all of these things don’t add up to much, if the teachers themselves are not
willing or allowed to help at risk students. This experience has opened my eyes to the injustices
that still exist in our public education system, and although I can’t change the whole system, I
can make sure that my classroom provides each student with the equality of opportunity they
need to succeed.

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References
Spring, J. H. (2012). American Education (Fifteenth ed.). (M. Ryan, Ed.) New York: McGraw
Hill.