Community Service and Why It Should Be Required to Graduate English 11B 5th hour Nichole Sleight 3-31-14 Ever wonder why you didn’t get that job you wanted? How would you feel if you knew a recent high school graduate got that job because they were more qualified than you? High schoolers that do community service, that is required to graduate, are becoming more certified for jobs because they get all kinds of different experiences. From volunteering at the local gardens, giving service to the elderly and cleaning up the streets, they get to serve and put their time into the community. What is community service? The dictionary definition is: ‘Voluntary work, intended to be for the common good, usually done as part of an organized scheme.’ ("Collins English Dictionary" ) People all over the country are doing community service for church activities, scouts, and because its what the judge ordered. Why not have the students do this as well, there's definitely no shortage of service to be done. If someone wanted to become a dental hygienist after they graduated, they could volunteer at the local dentist office starting from the bottom, taking out the trash, and heading up to the top, and assisting the hygenist. They could ask questions, get real life experience and cut a few of their service hours off. This would help them get real life, up to date, knowledge they wouldn’t learn in the classroom with a text book. School alone can’t help you with every situation you will encounter later in life, service helps you build skills, and helps you, help your community. Employers look for things like community service, computer technology, and social skills when they look at a resume. Having things like this says that t... ... middle of paper ... ...heir things, or even clean up the bus after a traveling game. To get in these extra hours just have your coach or a teacher see you doing these things and sign off on your paper. Nothing like helping the school janitor. Some students leave trash at the table after lunch and leave it to the janitor to pick up. This takes up a lot of time on their part and not very nice on the students part. Some of the students, after their lunch, can go and help the janitors and pick up the trash around the seats and wipe the crumbs off the table. Do this every day and your service hours can add up fast and you don’t have to worry about it later. Having community service should be required in all high schools across America, for these reasons and many others. It wouldn’t just benefit the students, but employers, communities, the elderly, neighbors, friends, and relatives.
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.
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 is something that I have always engaged. In college, I worked with chemically dependent children as both a caretaker and a mentor. After I graduated, I taught at-risk children in a community youth outreach program. To remain involved and aware of the focus of my studies during my first year of law school, I volunteered at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center teaching youth their basic legal rights. Essentially, we strove to empower kids by providing practical information about the legal system and to help them develop more favora...
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.
Another service that I have done has been to volunteer at the West Campus Hospital gift shop. It was a great experience for me; if I had the time I would make the effort to volunteer again. For people that is good at socializing with others and love organizing I would recommend volunteering at the gift shop.
...h to work with children in elementary level classroom; I helped them to be prepared for a special dancing and singing mixed event in the other side of a church. I enjoyed working in the classroom at this church, but I never thought to become a clergy, a priest or a religion-related worker because I am not really religious person. In the mean time, this community service did not help me to choose a career and explore skills and interests. However, some people would feel do not want to volunteer because they do not see what is the point of it when it has nothing to do with their plans. I concede a community service for a career exploration, but this should not be a requirement for graduation because it is unfair to people who have career plans.
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.
Community service: What a wonderful opportunity for students! A chance for our younger citizens to learn responsibility, experience the satisfaction that comes with helping others and to acquire new skills.
Nothing is more self-gratifying than putting a smile on someone’s face. Some people out there in high school communities are looking for direction when it comes to things to engage in. One of the most important ways that a kid can get involved in their area is by volunteering. Volunteering and giving back time to those in need can greatly benefit any high school student. These days, many colleges and employers put a huge emphasis into looking at volunteering applicants on resumes (US News and World Report.com, Lines 33-34).
On average, when people think about community service, they assume that volunteering is just ‘hours we need to be able to graduate’ and that is it. Community service is more than just hours; community service is based on the acts performed by someone with the purpose of helping or bringing benefits to his or her community. People frequently compare community service as a punishment since it is often offered to small-time offenders as an alternative to fines or jail time. However, community service is the vital force to many communities since they depend on the service made by the volunteers to be able to grow (The Importance of Volunteers). Nowadays, the words “community service” and “volunteering” are being used constantly. People tend to forget or misunderstand the real meaning or significance of volunteering. By exploring the history and significance of volunteering in the United States, people can develop a culture of volunteering and enrich their lives and make a positive social contribution.
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
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 order to develop and grow in these ways it should be mandatory for university undergraduates to complete a set number of community service hours. By requiring university undergraduates to complete a set number of community service hours they will not only enhance their learning academically and learn new life skills, but also have an opportunity to become more involved in their
Many schools have come to the conclusion of deciding to make community service a graduation requirement. This idea is thoroughly well-intentioned and grasps the fact that many in the country want to improve the value of today 's youth by instilling in them a bone of charity and self-sacrifice for the betterment of society. It is true that if we all thought this way, America would be much easier to live in and would reduce the polarization of the two political parties. However, forcing children to perform community service is a sort of affirmative action, well intentioned, but counterproductive. The issue with this is that one cannot force someone to be charitable. It
Volunteer: a person who does work without getting paid to do it (Merriam, Webster). The act of volunteering gives people a sense of responsibility and makes one feel needed and useful to society, one way or another. Students should be obligated to give back to their communities through acts of community service. It should be viewed from the perspective of paying their dues back to the community, after all, the education of these students is free and it is the community that pays for it. Community service should be a mandatory high school graduation requirement because it builds ones character, limits the rate of teenage delinquency, and establishes a path for a better future as an individual.