Reasons Why Students Should Be Obligated to Do Volunteering Work

“Wherever you turn, you can find someone who needs you. Even if it is a little thing, do something for which there is no pay but the privilege of doing it. Remember, you don’t live in the world all of your own.” These are the words of the philosopher and Nobel Prize winner Albert Schweitzer. Volunteering is the opportunity that allows a person to make others happy by doing good acts, such as teaching and helping underprivileged people and orphans. Participating in such activities is very important for adolescents, who are the foremost dynamic individuals that are needed for these activities. AUB scholars are required to accomplish fifteen hours of volunteering per semester because they are considered future social reformers. Many students argue that civic engagement activities must not be a requirement. However, volunteering for about fifteen hours per semester should be mandatory for all AUB students because it helps them gain work experience and improve their social life, although many students trend to consider it as a distraction.

First, fifteen hours of volunteering should be required from all AUB students for the job skills volunteering provides. Through volunteering with proper organizations, they develop leadership and the ability to solve problems that will be used in their future jobs. For instance, some activities, such as teaching or leading recreational activities for children with special needs or orphans, do not seem easy at all. Because those children have psychological problems and can’t express their feelings, volunteers should not only be able to adapt with them but also should be able to solve any problem they might face while interacting with them. For example, if a person volunteers with an NGO for special needs children, he has to be smart in dealing with them. Those children might not follow the instruction or even participate, so the student should find alternative activities to keep them interested. That’s how students learn to overcome any challenge and solve any problem they may face in their future career. These children can’t express their feelings and their needs, so it is up to the volunteer to do activities which they will enjoy. Moreover, such volunteering activities will teach them how to handle stress. In some volunteering activities, things might not go as expected. volunteers may feel under pressure when working in the supervision of a boss because he might evaluate their work and give them complains on every activity. Thus, they are prepared to handle stress while dealing with their boss in their future jobs. By gaining those skills, students will get prepared for their future career.

Another reason why AUB students should volunteer fifteen hours per semester is that they will expand their circle of social network. Volunteering is one of the best ways to meet new people with similar interests and be a part of society. For instance, in a volunteering mission, adolescents help each other to achieve their work and share ideas with each other, which strengthens their relationships when they work together. Moreover, they learn how to collaborate and deal with others, and this collaboration makes them more confident. There are many adolescents that don’t have many friends because of their shy personality, so they feel lonely and anxious. Therefore, volunteering with organizations makes him/her feel that he/she is a part of the community and leads him/her to follow the right path. Furthermore, there are many graduated students who have problems with socializing, so volunteering can be the best opportunity to overcome this problem. To conclude, volunteering helps adolescents to get involved in society.

On the other hand, many students believe that they should not be obligated to do volunteering work even if it is a few hours a semester because they feel this activity might distract them from studying. They argue that those fifteen hours will be taken away from their much needed hours of studying because some of them are majoring in fields where there is a lot of pressure, such as engineering and medicine. However, completing these hours besides their studies improves their time management skill. When students are obliged to finish studying and completing their volunteering hours, they have to manage their time and make a schedule. They can, for example, divide these hours and complete two hours per week instead of accumulating them until the end of the semester. Thus, instead of complaining about time constraints, students can best utilize their time by volunteering and contributing to their society.

To sum up, students who volunteer tend to have more skills than other students. They are more sociable people and have more chances to be accepted in their future jobs. Therefore, few hours of volunteering should be required for all AUB students per semester with an organization that deals with social problems so that more talented and sociable students graduate from the university. Those students will begin solving the problems of their societies instead of working for just earning money. As we say, “the good you put into the world will return to you in an abundance”.