community service

Thanks for the debate. This is something I've recently dealt with as my high school mandates community service and this has caused me to ponder the reasons for such a decree. Hopefully I don't disappoint.Part ICommandeering Young People's TimeStudents these days in high school have plenty to do. Many have jobs, play sports, participate in extracurricular activities, and do a host of other things that preoccupy their time. Making it so that students have to spend 100 hours of their time, or just about 4 days servicing the community just so they can graduate seems like a hindrance on most students. It should be the choice of the parents and student(s) on what they want to do in their spare time, not the choice of ivory tower intellectuals on a school board who are probably unawares as to how little time many have for such pursuits. In fact, I think that it is rather sickening that the academic worth of a student is determined by whether they involuntarily service their community for X amount of hours (in this case 100.) In conclusion, it should be up to the student as to whether he/she wants to service the school board, not a collection of bureaucrats on a school board. Part IIThe Point of High SchoolAlmost everyone goes to high school with the intention of graduating so that they may pursue whatever interest they may have post-high school. In my estimation, most students do not go to high school to be subject to enforced participation into community service on top of the rigorous studies they go through. You go to high school to learn, not to better the community. In fact, I would also estimate that being forced to do community service in high school may deter these students from doing it in the future. According to Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan’s cognitive evaluation theory study done in 1985, when students or any individuals perceive that they are being controlled externally, the natural human response is to lose enthusiasm for the project and toward the behaviors that are being promoted.Part IIIStupidity of Mandatory VolunteerismThe concept of mandated volunteerism (which forced community service would be) is in itself an oxymoron. How can one be forced to volunteer? It makes no logical sense. In essence, mandatory volunteerism is impossible, as one cannot involuntarily volunteer. Part IV "Community Service Requirements Seen to Reduce Volunteering"An August 20th, 2013 article on Education Week suggested that community service requirements would (surprise, surprise) reduce volunteering among older students.https://www.edweek.org...ConclusionNo matter how noble its concept may be, requiring students to further constrain their schedules just to accumulate 100 community service hours is unnecessary, self defeating, and an example of ivory tower bureaucrats enforcing their arrogant notions upon high school students and insisting that no matter how intellectually gifted you may be, the only way you will graduate high school is if you unfairly dedicate four days to involuntarily volunteerism. High school was conceived as a means of advancing the education of students. I'm sure that around 1900 (when traditional high schools were beginning to be introduced) almost none thought that community service would be a requirement to graduate.*****Sources*****http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu...https://en.wikipedia.org...https://en.wikipedia.org... https://edlab.tc.columbia.edu... http://www.educationworld.com...https://www.washingtontimes.com... https://www.calstate.edu... http://www.aasa.org... https://www.bartleby.com...