Should kids have to volunteer in order to graduate?
I can see both sides to this argument. On the one hand, it teaches kids about responsibility, and helps students form a commitment to their school. On the other hand, it’s not academic, so it shouldn’t be mandatory. I suppose my view is that if you’re being forced to do it, they have to stop calling it “volunteer work.” “Volunteer” implies that you’re doing something of your own free will, to benefit others, without any compensation. What it really is, is community service. I think students should be strongly encouraged to volunteer, and offered incentives such as time out of class to do the volunteer work, and enhanced privileges at school, but it should not be forced upon them, for the simple reason that it creates resentment towards the school. It may also interfere with homework, so a student should feel that they are able to stop volunteering if it is affecting their grades. On a side note, it’s really the parents’ job to teach their kids about responsibility; not the school’s.
The mission of public education has always been, and always will be, to create well-rounded citizens. In order to do this, I believe children should understand what it takes to be a true “citizen” of the United States. Now, 20 or 30 years ago it may not have been difficult to teach children what it means to “give back to the community”. But in today’s fast-paced society, I believe it’s necessary to require students to perform “community service” on some scale, small or large, so that they might get a feel for it, so to speak and realize it’s not that difficult to give of our time and talents instead of just from our pocketbooks. My daughter is a senior this year. Members of her class are required to perform 40 hours of community service throughout their high school years. This is roughly 10 hours per year, and it can be done any time, in a variety of ways, including helping with church clean up, or Vacation Bible School.
