Some smaller schools have even made a graduation requirement of what was once volunteer work. But they sometimes emerge at the University. Of all the Big Ten schools, the University might even be especially fertile ground for a service requirement, given Minnesota's history of innovative social policy. Leaders of the America Reads Challenge, for example, have said they would like participation on their program to be a graduation requirement. That would be a mistake.
Community service is, of course, commendable.
The University ought to do everything in its power to encourage students and faculty members to be better, more involved citizens. We all ought to do more to improve our community. The America Reads program is an example of the University doing the right thing. There is no excuse for illiteracy in this, the richest and best-educated nation in the history of nations. Yet millions of people, from fifth graders who ought to at least be able to read Goosebumps books to elderly adults who need to read their prescriptions, still cannot read or write.