We need to be saying that we do not believe there is something deficient in students, but something lacking in our curricula. We need to focus any requirement on the curriculum, not on the students. What we need to be doing is creating a fertile environment in which students have as many opportunities as possible to learn and serve, give of themselves, and enter into a caring relationship with others. The steady growth and eventual institutionalization of service-learning will transform our universities from isolated repositories of talent, knowledge, and resources, to central agents for civic peace, social justice, and community understanding. We need to nurture and steer students towards the rewards of service, not hit them over the head with it.
Requirements are bureaucratic nightmares for staff, faculty, and student alike.
A university must communicate an ethic of service over time. Start small and work your way up. I do not pay much weight to why students volunteer or what their motivations are. I don't care how or why someone has come to service. The only thing that is important is what happens while they are doing their service.