We spoke to parents, teachers, principals, and State legislators. Once we had 100 parents and students from across the State come to Annapolis to lobby the General Assembly for the requirement. We stayed there until 11 o clock at night offering one testimony after another. Finally eight years after I began, the requirement was passed into law. Today, every high school student in Maryland performs 75 hours of community service before graduation.
Students clean up public parks.
They care for the sick and the elderly. They lobby the state legislature for environmental reform. They tutor young children. One day, I visited a high school, and met a girl who told me that two years earlier, she had dropped out of high school because she was pregnant. Her mother was on welfare, and she figured she would be too.