Is “forcing” high school students to volunteer as a prerequisite for graduation a good thing? A recent article at World Volunteer Web, about required community service programs in some Canadian provinces, presented a number of interesting points:

• Volunteering, literally implies doing something at one’s own free will, “voluntarily”; referring to compulsory community service as volunteering may muddy the waters of “what is volunteering” and the distinction between unpaid work done out of good will and unpaid work done because one is made to do it.
• That said, students are made to do things that perhaps they’d rather not do, and “for their own good” fairly frequently in school, such as math homework, speech/public speaking class or horrible team sports like flag football. (ahem)
• Non-profit organizations may in fact benefit through some unpaid labor, but could end up shelling out for training and supervision for student volunteers, to enable them to do truly useful work, but then losing in the end when the volunteers simply stop after their forty hours. Or, they may give student volunteers work that is simpler – like stuffing envelopes or cleaning – and in that way perhaps less valuable both for the organization and “for the students’ own good.”

I thought these were all interesting and valid points. The article mentions a theory that people who get involved in volunteering earlier will continue to be involved in volunteering more later as well, and it would be interesting to find out more about this and see what role compulsory community service plays.

My opinion: I think community service requirements have the potential to be something great. I would guess that to maximize the benefit, it would make sense to distinguish between simply doing work for free, and doing unpaid work done towards the betterment of the community. I see the focus less on “forcing students to do something good” and more on “giving them the opportunity to be a part of community improvement and possibly make a positive impact.”

Some students may not like it, but in my mind that’s par for the course with some parts of high school. For other students, the experience may provide insight into future possibilities for volunteering or courses of study and careers; non-profit organizations also need qualified employees. Even if the students never volunteer again, they may just be in a position to see how community projects work in general, or how much work goes into affecting change.

Find the original article here.