Take a look at any school and you will find a required amount of community service that all students must complete if they wish to graduate. I think that it is a fantastic thing that we have instituted this requirement. Having done this, we have succeeded in finding a way to get our students to involve themselves in their communities and to give back to them. But what about after they have completed this requirement? What is being done to influence our students to continue volunteering and giving back to others after they have graduated?
That is my biggest issue with the mandatory community service: how do we ensure that we have motivated pupils enough to continue giving back after they have completed what we say they must? I feel like it is the same as when we tell students that they must complete a certain number of semesters of a certain subject. After they have reached that point, how do we keep them interested in the topic? Greater action must be taken to make sure that children in our schools do not view giving back to the community as just another required course. They should be learning what it means to volunteer and how much it means to the rest of the community.
We should not be making our students volunteer. Rather we should be enlightening them as to why it is so important to give back and help to improve the environments in which we each live. If we can show them the value of these things, we will be setting down the right path to provide students with the tools necessary to want to pursue a life of giving back and helping others.
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I completely disagree with your first point. Forcing students to volunteer and do community service is bound to anger them and make them even more unwilling to do community service even more than they were before. And what does it teach them? To give back to the community? C'mon, we all know that 17 year olds don't care about that?
ReplyDeleteLet's teach kids things that actually matter that they will be interested in. There is no need to waste resources on something that will have no effect on them.
Community service requirements in schools have long been hotly debated. I tend to think it depends on the quality of the experiences the kids are offered as well as the type of reflection they engage in. I believe that young people who participate in meaningful service projects that make a difference, and then participate in structured discussions about their experience with their peers, causes a shift in their consciousness that will change how they view and participate in the world in the future.
ReplyDeleteRequiring community service takes away a lot of the students desire to do it outside of school, just like most other school requirements. Requiring things in schools has a magical effect... it just somehow takes away the fun in the subject. I swear, if video games were required in schools, it would somehow take the fun out of that too.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, by requiring community service for school, students will be less likely to do community service out of personal interest after school. Sure you could argue that it will force the kids who won't do community service outside of school do at least do some, but I would say that it is better to leave the students passion to help the community unharmed.
Community service is community service even if it required. I don't think it matters if the students want to do it or not, just like homework. They should have to do it because it's good for them and it's good for the community. Yes, they should want to, but I don't think there's any sort of "education program" that can actually inspire kids to want to do community service. Either they feel rewarded while doing it or they don't. And either they will continue with it or they won't. I do think that if the kids are involved with other philanthropic programs though they should be excused from the additional school requirement because that may be overload.
ReplyDeleteI think that my point in this post may have been lost. I am not making the argument that there should not be a community service requirement. Rather, it is my claim that there must be another aspect of such programs. I believe that there are steps that must be taken in order to make sure that students understand the value of the work they are doing. Yes, community service is community service. but what about after this requirement is completed? Do most students continue volunteering in any capacity? While there are individuals that do, I would make the argument that for the most part, students do not continue participating in community service. That is what I was aiming to state in this post, along with pointing out that steps must be taken to influence students to continue volunteering after completing their requirements.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting post. I do think that schools do a lot of great work in terms of instilling volunteerism into America's youth but you do raise a good point discussing the ramifications. It reminds me of "reading." As young people we grow up liking it but after it's literally shoved down our throats for classes, some of us (like me) can actually grow to hate it. There is definitely a cultural aversion that exists in America when you're forced to do something, or also, when told not to do something. I think there should definitely be greater awareness to giving back, but not a full-on requirement. I know in my personal experience most of the time I was volunteering for all the wrong reasons, like padding my resume and not doing it because I genuinely wanted to.
ReplyDeleteEducation enthusiast volunteering post
ReplyDeleteMy school had a minimum service requirement and I think everybody liked it. One reason may have been that part of school was skipped every so often for a “community service day” but it none-the-less taught us all lessons about our community and how it feels to volunteer. For myself, it definitely changed my outlook, as I went around the world volunteering and helping those in need. Our school had a minimum requirement but also students could go above and beyond that requirement and get extra credit. Most kids were doing it to beef up their college resume. I also believe that young people who participate in meaningful service projects that make a difference but sometimes if its forced it just causes contempt. There was something about the feeling I received that made me want to continue it later on in life. Many of my peers would agree. The way to achieve this might be gratification and satisfaction. When its just requrred like homework, the rewards will probably not matter.