A Discussion on The Importance of Community Service Assignments for Students

Nowadays, many people have to learn as many skills as they can, so that they can get the jobs that they find interesting. The government requires students to perform minimum of 15 hours community service to graduate from high school. This menial amount of hours should be quite easy to accomplish and urges students to get involved. It is only right that high school students go out and benefit society at such a young age to leave impressions and to simply be a good person.

Community service assignments can teach students vital keys to success in the working world for example being on time for a service. Lessons can be taught at community service that carry on with you. You should do the services from your heart and do not give up easily. Besides, although community services are helping people, and gain an understanding about each other and a sense of human compassion. Students are given responsibility from their volunteer work and can be thought about issues and situations that are taking place in the real world. On surveys obtained by the “Council for Excellence in Government Youth” ages 15-22 all vote that community service being forced unfavorably. Ironically 23-25 year olds believe that it should be required amongst those students to complete community service hours.

Moreover, Community services can help for a teen future. Some students may even be interested in a career through the opportunities provided for them. In my community service experience I have learned how to help the less fortunate and it has truly changed my life and has lifted me to be a better person. Community service adds experience and demonstrates maturity. It demonstrates excellent organization, communication and good team spirit. People can use previous experiences in the future as they have obtained on the job. In “Volunteering Opens Teens Eyes to Nursing” the fact that this impressionable 13 year old boy realized that helping the elderly would gain him knowledge and grace. He stated “I would spend time with them every day if I could.” The most wonderful thing about Community service is the bond that forms between people making it unforgettable.

“Community Service is something that needs to be done. Community Service situates our moral center; it teaches us through experience- about the relationship between empathy and responsibility, about what it takes to be part of a community in essence, about being human.” This mission statement of The Dalton School in Manhattan is the perfect definition of why high school Community Service hours should be required. By adapting to this new society we are in, community service and helping one another brings back the bond felt between two strangers. It teaches you so much and nothing is better than the feeling of accomplishment after helping making the world a better place.

Why Community Service Should Not be a Requirement?

While students are freshly out of High School there is controversy on what they should do after. Some people think that all 18 year olds should perform one year of National or community service before they pursue college or a paying job. Personally, I think that students should not be required to do this. Every student varies in their own way. This means that not every graduate has the same goals to pursue in mind. Many graduates have no interest in doing community college. At this stage in their life they want to move on with their lives as quickly as possible, or simply do not have time for community service.

As an 18 year old, you have already endured 13 years of education in which you are told what to do with your life. Go to school for eight hours, sit in a classroom, wear what you are told, take work home, repeat. Once graduating you are in a sense “set free” to do what you please with your future. Whether that be to pursue a college education, paying job, or etc. Whatever the case may be, everyone has something different in mind. I believe that it is unfair to take an extra year out of their lives in order to have them do things for other people.

Colleges, especially, should not require a year of community service. For many upperclassmen in High School, it is hard enough to decide to further their education by attending college. They may already feel the pressure of college requirements, from test scores, to Gpa’s, to feeling like they have already endured too many years of school.

By adding an extra demand of giving up another year of your life in order to extend your education is absurd. Most graduates are eager to get through college, and start their careers before they even attend. By delaying them one year, it is possible that the less motivated students will have a lower chance of choosing to attend college.

Lastly, and most importantly, paying jobs should not require community service. As an 18 year old, you are considered a young adult. Not condoning that graduates should not pursue a college education, but in some circumstances there are some who are unable to, or choose not to attend college. I think there is no point in requiring a year of un-voluntary service in order to be able to get a job. As a young adult who chooses not to attend college you should be able to start adulthood and be able to receive income by working. Community service would not necessarily benefit them in anyway.

In conclusion, I think that community service should not be a requirement in order to start the next chapter in your life. There is nothing wrong with community service and helping others, however, it should be a voluntary choice. By requiring 18 year olds to unwillingly volunteer a year of their lives for them to be able to start adulthood is ridiculous. We should let graduates choose what they want to do with their lives and not hold them back.