I participated in my first service learning course during my second year of college. Prior to taking the course, I was completely ignorant about the course's focus, Animal Rights and the activism involved with it. I simply needed an English class to fulfill some of the general education courses required at my university. Through out the course I was constantly coming to new realizations and discovering how unjustly our society has been treating animals. To my surprise, I was finding out that this really was an issue that played a major role in the lives of everyone on the planet. The service learning component meant that I was actually out of class somewhere, learning about the subject material through hands-on experience, in this case, volunteering at a local Animal Rights organization. I was learning all of this through a class that I had taken entirely because I needed the required credit that it offered. I have been so enamored with the subject material and the hands-on experience learning that I have recommended the course readings to many of my peers. After participating in a course such as this English class, I firmly believe that the best way for effecting change with regard to the situation of animals in our society is to require a service learning course for every college student. .
By educating the student through literature, video, internet, guest speakers, and then requiring them to get some hands-on experience, they will be able to gain a good understanding of the issue of Animal Rights and Animal Rights Activism. There are many methods in which to convey the information concerning why Animal Rights is so important. The best approach to this is to deliver the pertinence of the issue by educating them about the different ways that Animal Rights plays a role in our society. These ways include the historical viewpoint, the economic viewpoint, the philosophical/moral viewpoint, the scientific viewpoint, language's role in speciesism, arguments against animal rights, and the "in your face" approach.
