The Similes of Charity Service Programs

(1)

The Similes of Charity Service Programs

Orchidea Karlowits-Juhász Institute of Teacher Training viresz@gmail.com

Keywords: charity service program, school service learning program, service learning, Jesuit education, qualitative research

In the years of 2013 and 2014 I conducted a mixed-method empirical research, which was mainly based on participatory observation, with the aim of examin- ing several aspects of the charity service program at the Gyula Fényi Jesuit High School in Miskolc. The research focused on exploring the cultural embed- dedness, the operating mechanisms of the program as well as the attitudes and motivations of the participants and resulted in a complex, descriptive case study.¹

At the Gyula Fényi Jesuit Grammar School in Miskolc, since the academic year of 2002/2003, each student has been taking part in a service program with a social focus for several months. The main purpose of the charity program, Pedro Arrupe, is to make students „people for others” who, as adults, partici- pate in the promotion of social justice with the necessary openness, active and critical attitude, and tolerance.²

In 2014 (in addition to my case study), I conducted an online research pro- ject with Balazs Velkey, the charity program coordinator, during which, among other things, I had the opportunity to ask students to share similes they associ- ate with the program. „The charity service program is like ...” was completed by 209 of the 290 respondents, 78 left the answer blank, and 3 had an invalid answer.

The process of analyzing and interpreting the similes were basically sub- jective, intuitive, since I did not ask for explanations in the questionnaire; and I even included in the instructions for the students not to think a lot about their answers. My goal was not to interpret and categorize all similes, but to help draw a general picture of the students’ perceptions, attitudes, emotions, beliefs,

1 KARLOWITS-JUHÁSZ Orchidea, A jezsuiták szeretetszolgálata az iskolai közösségi szolgálat kontex- tusában, Doktori (PhD) értekezés, (Budapest: ELTE PPK Neveléstudományi Doktori Iskola, 2015)

2 The compulsory school community service, introduced in Hungary from the 2012/2013 school year, (required for graduation from 2016) partially reorganized the content and technical aspects of the charity service program. I will not discuss this issue in this study.

(2)

and desires about love service. The collected similes were classified within four aspects:³

1) according to its sign: positive, rather positive, neutral; negative, rather negative;

2) according to structure and level of detailedness: one word; multi-word, not detailed; multi-word detailed;

3) according to the direction of the effect: towards the helper; towards the helped person (s); reciprocal;

4) according to their semantic range.

The classification according to the signs is shown in Table 1. A total of 201 positive, rather positive or neutral, and 8 negative or more negative responses were received. Where I was uncertain about the classification, I examined the respondent’s attitude toward charity program based on the other questions in the questionnaire and then deduced the sign of simile. For example, the „charity service is like a surprise packet” simile was placed in a more positive category, as the respondent student’s attitude towards charity was positive overall, as he volunteered for 4 school years instead of 1, and worked as a volunteer even after graduating from high school, and he also and supports the introduction of compulsory school community service. Likewise, the „charity service program is like other duties” was put into the rather negative category because the student concerned evaluated the charity service program consistently in a negative way, was reluctant to volunteer later on, and did not agree with the introduction of compulsory school community service.

1. Classification of similes according to their sign

Sign Occurrence Examples:

The charity service program is like…

Positive, rather

positive, neutral 201 self-fulfillment; a second family; the warmth of the sun; a caressing hand; the most useful duty.

Negative, rather

negative 8 kissing a dead person; a house without a roof; a pain in the neck.

Altogether 209

The similes were classified also by their structure and level of detailedness. In Table 2 I would mostly like to point out that the more complex, multi-word

3 The classification was based on: VÁMOS Ágnes, Metafora a pedagógiában, (Budapest: Gondolat Ki- adói Kör – ELTE BTK Neveléstudományi Intézet, 2003) 11.

(3)

responses contribute significantly to a more objective interpretation of the similes and also to a more relevant definition of the range of semantic fields.

2. Classification of similes according to their structure and levels of detailedness Detailed-

ness(structure) Occurrence Examples:

One-word 50 the bird; the rain; vitamin; luck; the game; a paper; a try; a road; a pie; a plant; a room.

Multi-word expres-

sion 96 a slice of life; a heart-warming experience; an informal obligation; when many little ants are busy.

Multi-word, detai-

led 63 gardening, you work with patience and attention, later you realize how much this means to you; a school where very important lessons can be learned about social sensitivity

Altogether 209

Arranging the similes into sets based on their effects show us the balance be- tween the dual goals of this charity service program (see Table 3). Namely, we see that the effects from the helpers (“there”) or towards the helpers (“back”) are almost evenly distributed. The former refers to the „charity” of this program, and the latter to the development of the ability and personality due to this program. Balázs Velkey describes this dual goal system as follows: “The primary goal of our school program is to develop the ability and personality of our students through community service. We want to give young people oppor- tunities and some help to become “people for others”. During the program, our students will experience the joy of giving and acceptance, they will get to know themselves better, open up to the world and take on social responsibility. They should be constantly growing in their social sensitivity and commitment.”⁴ In one of the interviews I made, he says: “Students first feel that they are helping others, but many realize during the program what they get from the program themselves, and what are the values that are strengthened in them.”⁵

4 VELKEY Balázs, „Személyiségfejlesztés az iskolai közösségi szolgálatban”, Fókusz, 15(2013) 1. sz.

13–28., 16.

5 Interview with Balázs Velkey (16th January 2013)

(4)

3. Classification of similes according to the direction of their effect The direction of the

effect Occurrence Examples:

Towards the helped

one(s) 63 responsibility; self-sacrifice; a gift we can give to others; opening previously closed doors for others; to give clothes to the man with no clothes; a selfless gesture; love via serving; to turn to others with devotion; to give one piece of yourself to another person; to live for others.

Towards the helper 67 self-fulfillment; an adventure from which we re- turn with more; a self-development training;

learning a special language, you can only become a better person and your personality will become more colorful; a useful experience that would have been a pity to miss.

Reciprocal 12 giving to others while you also get from them;

love (giving and waiting for feedback); walking dogs, it is a joy for both parties.

Not identifiable or

not typical 67 All similes that cannot be clearly classified in the above categories.

Altogether 209

In addition to the classification procedures presented so far, the similes have been categorized by their semantic ranges too (see Table 4). A total of 28 semantic ranges were assigned to which 188 of the 209 similes could be classified, and 21 were included in the „Unique Response Set”. There are 43 similes that appear in two, and 1 simile that appear in three ranges of meanings at the same time, for example: “Love service is like a sapling. You plant it, take care of it, and when it grows, it gratifies you with its fruit” (meaning ranges: Gardening, Mu- tual give-and-take); „Love service is like changeable weather” (meaning ranges:

Natural phenomenon, An unpredictable thing).

(5)

4. Classification of similes according to their semantic ranges

Semantic ranges Occurance A few examples:

Positive* Negative*

1. Selfless giving 33 - giving myself to those in need.

2. Development, learning 20 - a self-development training.

3. Quitting the usual 16 - getting to know other lives.

4. Religious life 14 - the work of Jesus.

5. Personal relationships 13 - extending a family.

6. Basic need 12 - salt, we need it!

7. Mutual give-and-take 12 - a smile. If you give it to someone, you get it back.

8. But the end is good 11 - running. Sometimes it’s hard to convince yourself, but you’ll never regret it.

9. Life itself 11 - real life.

10. Completion 10 - completing a gap.

11. A natural phenomenon 8 - sunshine.

12. Challenge, mission, pro-

fession 7 - a big challenge.

13. Self-knowledge 7 - looking into the mirror and seeing

yourself.

14. Spare time activity 6 - a hobby.

15. An unpredictable thing 5 1 roulette. You don’t know how it will end.

16. Positive experience 5 - a heartwarming experience.

17. Flower, plant 5 - a beautiful flower.

18. Gardening 5 - gardening.

19. Fruit 4 - a thirst quenching fruit.

20. Road, journey, trip 4 - a trip.

21. Miracle 4 - all the small things. If you do it

regularly, it can do wonders.

22. Duty 2 1 an informal duty.

23. Developing patience 3 - the stairs of patience.

24. Love 3 - the practical expression of love.

25. Towards a better world 3 - paving the road for a better world.

26. Opportunity 2 - a good opportunity.

27. Book 2 - a good book.

28. Work 1 1 a fruitful job.

+1 Individual answers 12 6 my grandmother.

* Positive = positive, rather positive, neutral; negative = negative, rather negative.

Below I will present those semantic ranges that contain the most elements, with some explanations, and also illustrated by further examples.

(6)

The semantic range of Selfless giving consists of the widest range of similes used for Love service.⁶ The similes here cover categories such as giving („giving clothes to a man who has no clothes”), giving („giving a gift”), giving from our- selves („giving one piece of yourself to another person”), living for others („the practical manifestation of living for others”), sacrifice („ self-sacrifice „), helping others („ helping many fallen people „), selfless acts („ an unselfish gesture „). I would like to draw attention here to the motive of living for others in the selfless giving semantic range, which clearly refers to the idea of a „people for others” formulated by Pedro Arrupe and also in the Mission Statement of the Jesuit grammar school.⁷

Of the 20 similes of the Development, learning semantic range, 8 are based on the school’s analogy, such as: “Love service is like a school where you can learn very important lessons about social sensitivity” or “…like Hungarian or history lessons. It should be a maturity requirement.” The rest of the answers are not directly related to school, but refer to some kind of development of knowledge, competence or attitude, such as: „The love service is like bringing our abilities to life and then using them” or „The love service is like learning how to be humble.”

In the third position we can find the semantic range of Quitting the usual.

Here, love service appears both as an encounter with the real world („the be- ginning of the journey to real life”) and as an encounter with an unknown world („to know other life situations”). In some similes of this semantic range, there is also the act of changing perspectives: „Love service is like stepping out of my normal life for a moment and seeing the environment and myself from a different perspective.”

Due to the religious context of the service program, the Religious life semantic range also ranks high. Half of the similes in this range mention God or Jesus (or refer to them) („to help Jesus”; „to meet God”; „to learn to carry the cross with joy and love”). Of course, we should include all the similes that evoke Pedro Arrupe’s idea of „living for others,” within this semantic range, but the simile „charity service is like mustard seed” as it refers to the parable of the power of Christ’s teaching, should also be mentioned here.⁸ Also the idea of

6 The word “selfless” here is used in order to distinguish these similes from the elements of the Mutual give-and-take set.

7 Pedro ARRUPE, Men for Others, (Washington, DC: Jesuit Secondary Education Association, 1974); A Fényi Gyula Jezsuita Gimnázium és Kollégium pedagógiai programja, (Miskolc: Fényi Gyula Jezsuita Gimnázium, 2014) 5.

8 “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” (Matthew 13,31–32)

(7)

„Love service is like swimming against the tide” (or „swimming against the tide in a team”) should be included here. It recites the words of the Jesuit Provincial John Adam (1927–2010): „What the [trout] symbol warns is that you have to be able to swim against the tide, against the power pulling you down from within and against the bad tide from the outside world.”⁹

Among the similes within the semantic range of Personal relationships the similes of the family are emphasized („finding and discovering a new family”) as well as similes expressing the idea of getting to know new people, sometimes with different life situations („an opportunity to spend time with completely different people”). „Love service is like a combination of two hands” com- presses the elements of this semantic range into a beautiful symbolic image.

I used the expression: Basic needs for the semantic range which included those conventionally positive similes like water, bread, or salt. The bread is de- rived from the phrase „you need it is like a piece of bread” occurred 7 times („Love service is like a mouthful of bread. Many people need it”), the water 3 times („a drop of water for the hungry”), and the salt simile known from the Hungarian folk tale 2 times („salt, it is needed!”).

The Mutual give-and-take semantic range is identical to the reciprocal similes shown above, which were classified according to direction of action. The examples in Table 3 can be further expanded here, such as „Love service is like gardening, you work with patience and attention, you later realize how much it meant to you” or „Love service is like a sapling. You plant it, take care of it, and when it grows up, it will thank you for taking care of it.”

The semantic range of But the end is good gives the compilation of those similes in which the respondent describes charity as something difficult (labo- rious) and / or negative, but with a positive ending. The following two similes illustrate the semantic range: “Love service is like skiing for a beginner. At first you definitely will fall, you don’t like it, it is painful, especially if it is obligatory, but in most cases, later it becomes a person’s passion” and „Love service is like a dish of sorrel, first many dislike it, but when doing it, they find it useful and a lot more meaningful.”

Similes in the semantic range of Life itself cover two areas of meaning. In one, charity appears as a part of real life („a slice of life”) and in another as a better life („the road leading to a better world”).

In the semantic range of Completion those similes were included that refer to the completion of a gap, or to help, such as „a thirst-quenching fruit”, „a

9 Miskolci pisztránglevelek, P. Ádám János SJ lelki örökségéből, szerk. TÓTHNÉ BÁNHEGYI Andrea, Ignáci Pedagógiai Műhely V, (Miskolc: Jezsuita Kiadó, 2011) 13.

(8)

crutch”, „opening previously closed doors for others” or „a drop of hope for those in need.”

Of the categories with fewer than ten elements, I would like to highlight just three. For me, one of the most beautiful and expressive metaphorical de- scriptions of charity service is „filtering the needy through myself”. I also con- sider the “Love service like the Jesu” simile, where Jesu refers to Gyula Fényi Jesuit High School, and indicates that, in the respondent’s perception (in the context of the other responses to the questionnaire), charity service is fully con- sistent with the values represented by the institution and its practice. And the simile „charity service is like a flame that is passed on” which is analogous with the Olympic flame, refers to the relay nature of charity service, as each year new students are added to the program and their senior school-mates pass the program on together with their experiences, thus continuing and maintaining the tradition of charity service.

In conclusion, we can state that for a significant number of students, charity service appears primarily as a selfless act of giving, or as an act of learning, a developmental process, and also that charity service learning is able to move the helpers out of the environment they are familiar with, and thus they face a reality which was unknown for them before. Through the similes presented and analyzed above, there is a positive image of the students’ perception, attitude, and emotional relationship towards love service, in which the dual aim of the program (and also the service learning type activities¹⁰) are manifested: skills and personality development and social responsibility.

Translated by Ingrid Alexovics

10 The term service learning is meant to be a pedagogical support activity that is intentionally de- signed to benefit the serving and receiving party equally, and to ensure an equal focus on the service performed and the learning process. Andrew FURCO, „Service-learning: A balanced approach to ex- periential education”, in Expanding Boundaries: Serving and Learning, ed. Barbara TAYLOR, (Wash- ington DC: Corporation for National Service, 1996) 2–6., 5.

(9)

My major publications on the topic:

KARLOWITS-JUHÁSZ Orchidea, „Pedro Arrupe és a »másokért élő ember« eszménye”, Zempléni Múzsa, 14(2014) 4. sz. 5–11.

KARLOWITS-JUHÁSZ Orchidea, „A jezsuiták szeretetszolgálata Miskolcon I.: A szeretetszolgálat gyöke- rei a rend történetében és pedagógiai nézeteiben”, Gesta, 14(2015) 18–34.

KARLOWITS-JUHÁSZ Orchidea, „A Fényi Gyula Jezsuita Gimnáziumban működő szeretetszolgálati program módszertani vonatkozásai”, in Szolgálva, nem tündökölve, szerk. NAGY Ádám, (Budapest:

Iuvenis – Ifjúságszakmai Műhely, 2017) 166–188.

KARLOWITS-JUHÁSZ Orchidea, „A szeretetszolgálat módszertana és hozadékai a miskolci Fényi Gyula Jezsuita Gimnáziumban”, Szociálpedagógia, 13(2019) 160–185.

KARLOWITS-JUHÁSZ Orchidea, „Szeretetszolgálati program a miskolci Fényi Gyula Jezsuita Gimnázi- umban”, in Keresztény kultúra és közösségpedagógia, szerk. Fábry Béla és Trencsényi László, (Bu- dapest: Magyar Pedagógiai Társaság, 2019) 135–152.