Throughout their careers, students are asked to complete a variety of tasks. These tasks can vary from homework, to studying for the SAT, being involved in a sport, and participating in community service. The predicament comes into action when administrative faculty are left with the question of whether or not this service should be required to graduate. Although many may argue otherwise, it is clear that community service should be required because it encourages the progress of students at school, gives them exposure to the world, and provides students with knowledge that is inaccessible at school. Requiring students to participate in service projects promotes academic success. Even when they are mandatory, the benefits from the hours that the students would complete, are evident. In a case investigating the validity of service as a violation of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, the court came to the conclusion that mandatory community service is more “educational than exploitative”(“Involuntary volunteers?”). So why is it that the majority still refuses to accept this mandate? Education is what has established the superiority of nations worldwide, so what the public must see is that these service hours are fundamental to the growth of students. As students continue to study at school, they create their own goals, but they become difficult to pursue. A study was conducted that came to the conclusion that, “girls who are involved in community service are less likely to get pregnant and less likely to fail in school”(Newquist). Community service would directly affect the likelihood of passing school for a majority of the student body. Ensuring that more students would succeed in school outweighs the argument that this... ... middle of paper ... ...2012.Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. Ezarik, Melissa M. "Mandatory Student Volunteerism Benefits Everyone Involved." Volunteerism. Ed. Gary Wiener. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. At Issue. Rpt. from "Good Deeds Are Good Indeed." Career World (Sept. 2003).Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. Goldsmith, Suzanne E. "The Community Is Their Textbook." The American Prospect 6 (1995): 22. Print. "Involuntary Volunteers?" Current Events 4 Nov. 1996: n. pag. Print. Newquist, Connie. "Community Service: Opportunity or Exploitation?" Education World 10 Nov. 1997: n. pag. Print. Sortal, Nick. "Community Service Hours: What High School Students Need to Know: Caring for Animals, Tutoring Kids, Helping Seniors: Volunteer Hours Are More than a Graduation Must, They Are Life Lessons." South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Sept. 2009. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
Imagine a typical teen, they have a job, homework, sports, and other extracurriculars. They don’t get home till late at night and they are exhausted. This teen can take much more and thankfully they are about to graduate, but wait the school wants them to fit in one hundred of community service into that schedule in order to graduate. How on earth is this busey teen suppose to do that with all that they have going on? Students should not have to do one hundred hours of community service to graduate high school.
The author’s purpose was to persuade her audience that volunteering should not be mandatory. She reviews the history of the beginning of the program that was initiated by President Clinton, who apparently believed community service should be mandatory for graduation.
If schools wanted to encourage community service then they shouldn’t force students to do it. Schools should let students know about volunteering opportunities and possibly let them sign up for the school so that it is easier for them to do so if they want
Kim, in the United States, grades are not the only factor in evaluating school applicants and job candidates. From Rhodes Scholar selections to college applications, excellence in other areas such as leadership, volunteer activities, sports and arts is equally important (p82-90). In American schools, students are encouraged to do volunteer work. So much so that many schools have guidelines for how much time students are expected to spend serving in the community. Children learn the value of giving from an early age. Volunteer activities is one way Americans feel a part of things and share the goal of serving and contributing to build their communities. From neighborhood watch programs to environmental issues, Americans do not wait for the government to initiate action: they take action to bring about the changes they desire. Therefore, Americans view volunteer work as a way to teach children and young adults values such as cooperation and teamwork, dedication and work ethics, equality and social justice, leadership, generosity and compassion for
Lastly, graduation is a big part of anyone’s life, and disallowing it can be devastating, especially for a very small problem. If a student works countless hours getting straight A’s every year, they should not be denied graduation because they didn’t work service hours at their local laundromat. Forcing community service hours is completely redefining what graduation is, since it used to be that the student excelled enough in each subject to get the passing grades, which isn’t the case when students are concurrently forced to do worthless
How did a departmental faculty generated 12,000 hours of student community service in one semester? The following is a qualitative analysis of conversations with faculty members in a department that recently instituted a service learning requirement for all student majors. The campus is a large urban comprehensive university with a multi-ethnic student body. Approximately fifteen faculty members were interviewed for this study. While most of those interviewed included service learning components in their courses, interviews with faculty members who resisted or refused to incorporate service learning were conducted as well in order to understand varying faculty attitudes towards service learning.
In order to be successful in school, there should be a minimum requirement for high school students to do four hours of community service a week. Community service not only benefits students when looking for scholarships, but also helps apply what they learn in school to the real world. Volunteering helps students expand and practice on skills they have learned in school such as leadership and teamwork. Students who do community service learn to develop leadership skills as well as teamwork skills and this allows them to succeed not only in school, but also in careers and more community involvements. Participating in community service also helps students learn how to solve problems on their own because it is a real life experience. Volunteering helps students be successful in school because it builds a sense of responsibility, confidence, and helps students with scholarships to succeed for their future. I myself, for example, am a high school student who has done volunteer work at the public library.
One way to ensure a civically engaged population is to nurture and promote amongst youth and teenagers the value of participating in one’s community, with the hope that involvement will continue into adulthood. Most school districts in Arizona do not require students to volunteer as a graduation requirement. Those that do, necessitate a number of hours to be completed and logged individually; for example, Deer Valley Unified School District in Maricopa County requires eight hours of volunteering during a student’s senior year. Of course any opportunity for one to help society should be applauded – however, this particular process negates cooperative long-term attachment to a beneficial project and does not incorporate knowledge learned in class, or apply meaning in a real-life context. The implementation of Service-learning programs into public school curriculum would uphold useful skills associated with community involvement and citizenship, as well as address problems in real settings rather than do repetitious tasks in seclusion.
Carter, Gloria Dapper. School Volunteers:What They Do And How They Do It . New York: Citation,1970.
In recent months, a requirement that would be placed upon the students of this state has been discussed by the legislature. While this requirement would have some positive effects on some public works, and perhaps even the cleanliness of the towns of this great state, the negative effects on those whom it would be placed far outweigh the aforementioned positive effects. A mandatory community service requirement of 10-15 hours per week would not be beneficial because it would result in an increased level of exhaustion in students, a general drop in grades state-wide, and it would contribute to general discontent in the student population.
Well, that depends who you're talking to. Slip the word "mandatory" behind community service, as school districts in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and hundreds of others have done, and "opportunity" takes a new twist. Opportunity for who? For the students, or for the communities that can now capitalize on students' free labor? (Martin, pg. 13)
Although community serviced is beneficial is beneficial for a teenager's development of both character and academic, but when community services become required or mandatory, the original purpose of community services is being altered and have a more negative effect than positive on the students. Resume padding is very prevalent in college-bound student who volunteers, some of the students are not willingly to volunteer but rather being "forced" to volunteer to increase their acceptance rate into particular colleges. Mandatory volunteerism might also have negative effects on students' intentions to volunteer freely in the future. Furthermore, through statistics of numerous researches, most students currently in school do not support mandatory volunteer.
In an article written by Linda Saslow titled High School Mandating Community Service for Graduation, she mentions the many pros to mandatory community service. Saslow mentions school districts like Roslyn and Hewlett-Woodmere (1994, para 3) that have started requiring high school students to complete a certain number of community service hours in order to graduate high school. Their goal is to give “kids the opportunity for new experiences” (Saslow, 1994, para 4). Through research conducted by the school districts, they have come to the conclusion that students who would’ve been “too shy to volunteer have admitted that they were glad they had been forced”. This is good because it’s bringing students together and really opening them up to new
Community Service is a service that is performed for the benefit of the public or its institutions. There are two groups who perform community service, and those are criminals and the rest of us. This means that, for the majority of us, performing community service is completely voluntary. It is for this reasons li that I believe that community service should not be mandatory in high school for graduation. The supporters of this act think of it as an ideal society’s noble concept, but it is rather a noble concept trying to force an ideal society. When you look at it from this perspective you realize it is ironic.
Children go to school to learn fundamental skills and subjects, but the mission of education is much greater. Historically, the mission of schools has been to help children grow into productive, responsible adults who help make the world a better place. This mission is still true today. Americans feel that one of the main purposes of education is to prepare students to become responsible citizens (Smith, 2003). A great deal has been said and written about the importance of giving students the opportunity to provide service to others. Some programs of assistance are community service, youth service, national service, student volunteerism, and service learning (Witmer, & Anderson, 1994).