Public service is a very beneficial activity. It can help teach people life skills, social skills, and responsibility. However, if required, it can bring about issues. If a person is required to perform public service between high school and college, it is possible that he or she might not go back to school or try to get a full time job. Money could also be an issue; if someone is performing public service, he or she cannot have a steady job to earn a sufficient income. According to Dennis Welch (Senior Staff Writer for “The Gallup Organization”), over half of teens between the ages of 13 and 17 were opposed to the thought of a public service requirement as of 2004 (1). While public service can be a benefit to both society and the person doing …show more content…
They may say that this period of time working with the public will help the student decide whether or not he or she wants to go to college. Moreover, this time spent with others in the community can help bring out the compassion in people and possibly change the way we all live for the better. Carol Gilligan says that “People with higher levels of compassion are more likely to define themselves in relation to others and make moral decisions based on the impact those actions have on others” (Hsieh 244). Others may argue that if public service was a requirement for graduating high school students, more people would enlist in the military; this way, the country would not have to worry about having to bring the draft back. Helping the general public is a great way to develop social skills, but the thought of required public service could also raise some …show more content…
In 1998, a study done by the Higher Education Research Institute and the University of California, Los Angeles reported that “30 percent of college undergraduates reported taking a ‘service-learning’ course.” The next year, the percentage of college freshmen who had experience as volunteers jumped all the way up to 75 (Perry 96). Writer Joellen Perry states that between the years of 1984 and 1997, “the number of high schoolers involved in service-learning leapt an astonishing 3,663 percent” (96). This proves that high schools must already know that colleges look at how involved students are in their communities. Therefore, it should not be seen as a necessity to require public service from students before they are allowed to enroll in
Community service hours are a significant issue to all students around the globe, as they are taking a substantial amount of time away from their lives scouring for some kind of work to do. This is especially a problem for those who do not live near any public organizations, and do not have the schedule to do any work for them. Most students go searching around their neighborhood asking if their neighbors have any work for them, which does not help anyone academically. Thus, most community service hours that are done don’t relate to their academic classes or technical area.
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.
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
Community service has become a requirement for an eighteen year old student to get admitted in an university or to pursue a paying job. Although I am involved in many community service, I personally believe that it should not be a requirement. A student should desire to work voluntarily. He or she should not be forced to perform the community service to make their college application look better. There are several learners who are against volunteering. The high school students have various things to see and learn. They should be able to help others by their own choice. They should not perform it just to graduate. Pressurizing can lead to have short-tempered apprentices which is not good.
My passion for public service initiated in my third grade reading class. It was there that I volunteered for “Reading Together USA”, a program to help younger children learn to read. The joy and delight that I felt from witnessing my students’ progress was unprecedented to any feeling that I ever felt before, and I knew from that point forward that my life would be committed to serving the public. Although my forms (TRYING TO SAY WAYS LIKE 1st pre-med then law) of serving others may have changed, the trend of service has remained constant through high school, college, and even my career.
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.
By promoting contribution in civic services, people are more likely to get involved with their community due to being more active citizens. Levine notes: “Evidence suggests that most forms of extracurricular participation in high school raises involvement in civic activities since teammates are encouraged to contribute to other associations beyond their organizations” (25). Knowing that extracurricular activities improves public engagement, people increase their involvement in their community. For instance, my high school’s art club routinely motivates its members to volunteer at local parks and charity programs by providing potential openings for involvement. Using these chances, I offer to face paint during a few night shows and parades.
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
Taking time to volunteer at the many nonprofit organizations, homeless shelters, advocacy centers, philanthropic fundraisers, local schools and child care facilities in the inner city is not always at the forefront of young people’s minds while navigating through their college experiences. But, with a little push from student organizations, local nonprofits and passionate individuals, volunteerism and community change can start to take a front seat and become not just an opportunity, but also a priority in the lives of young people.
As young people’s civic and political participation continues to decline, a number of organizations are working to reverse the decline by increasing opportunities for youth to participate. Communities around the country are taking steps to engage young people through a variety of methods that allow youth to actually participate in policy development and take action on local issues. The effectiveness of such community programs on long-term civic engagement is not well documented, however. This paper presents preliminary research about the effectiveness of one community participation program, the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s Youth Advisory Council. Quantitative and anecdotal evidence, while not conclusive, suggest this community problem solving approach may encourage its participants to engage in other civic and political activities. The paper also discusses the benefits that organizations and communities receive when young people participate in this way, and provides recommendations for developing a similar youth participation program.
Public Service is an act that provides skills to a marginalized group, or a group that could not otherwise meet certain needs. An act of public service is community driven and must serve the interests of society overall by providing inclusivity and engagement to all members of society. Finally, to qualify as public service, the work provided must benefit others, rather than cause harm. “Public service” means different things to different people, but the words alone provide a starting point for defining the meaning of the phrase. The term “service” can be used to define work that one person does for another, whether that work is paid or unpaid.
Many institutions made civic learning a high priority in the undergraduate education goals and start to begin systematic assessment of the influence of their educational opportunities. There are also significant of scholarship using student surveys on college campuses, evidence on how campuses have an influence at various stages of a students’ career.
By definition, public goods are those goods that have essentially two characteristic: non-rivalry and non-excludability. Very common example of public goods is national defense, parks, radio, services and street lights. It is the role of the government to provide these pure public good to the citizens because private enterprises that are profit-oriented will not be able to exclude people who do not pay for the product. However, pure public goods are very rare to find. Other types of public goods include congestible and quasi- public goods. The main problem associated with public goods is the problem of free ridership where people over consume services or products given to them for free. In relation to the subject of public goods, two literature
Though, the concept of community service is not very new its importance has developed in the past few years. There are thousands of organizations all over the world that engage and hold millions of young people all through the world. People of all age groups, with a maximum number of youth are involved in the process of community service. Community-based organizations include; social service organizations, non-profit providers and associations that engage both young people as well adults as volunteers. The process is beneficial both for the individuals as well as the society. Without community service people would not know the meaning of charity and giving back. Community service can be defined as a service that is performed for the benefit of the public. Community service is not a responsibly or an obligation; it is a commitment. A person must want to do it with good intentions and not because they are being forced to do so. Basically, community service is a way for a person to give back to a community in which they live.
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