Volunteering in Favor of Community

Volunteering

In favor of community service...an address to the local PTA

Recently, the local school board passed a somewhat controversial measure requiring all high school students to participate in some form of community service as part of their graduation requirements for high school. Students were required to, at minimum, engage in fifty hours of community service between the 9th and 12th grades. The service could involve anything from volunteering at a local hospital or day-care center, to working at senior citizen's center or constructing environmentally related projects, such as cleaning up the local parks. For more ambitious students, the required community service could even take the form of working with local organizations to aid homeless families or other indigent or disadvantaged members of the community.

This proposed community service requirement for high school students is reasonable, and the rewards for both the students and the community will be immeasurable. First of all, the student will develop an important sense of responsibility to his or her community beyond his or her goal of merely gaining an academic education. Existing graduation requirements, such as mandatory gym classes and health classes for students, demonstrate the district's along-standing commitment to make learning in high school not merely about academics, but about creating a more physically and emotionally fit student who is ready for the world as well as the demands of higher education.

As part of the community service requirement, students will also gain valuable experience in service that cannot be provided by most part time jobs that are accessible to teenagers. The requirement will give students ideas about possible professions as well, from becoming a social worker, to a hospital employee, a teacher -- even a forest ranger!