Service Hours Requirement for BHS Graduation
By Ryan Coiner
Requiring students to complete service hours before they graduate would be interesting to look into. Some students who already volunteer a lot wouldn't mind it because they are used to it. Some schools in Minnesota offer a varsity letter in community service because they want to "help shape well-rounded students with sharp minds and big hearts"(Shannon Prather, Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 12, 2019). If a student volunteers during high school it might look good for them when they try to get into college.
Some students who work a lot and are involved in other activities might not like it because they wouldn't have time to do it and they are only doing it because they have to. If they do it they might think that it's a good way to make connections and maybe get a job out of it, but that might not happen. What happens is "someone else is collecting nearly all of the money derived from those labor efforts"(Mainichi Japan, February 15, 2019). They would just be doing free labor. If they don't feel good about volunteering then they won't do as good a job.
I think it would be a good idea to have some service hours as a graduation requirement. The number of service hours should be low enough that people who don't have a lot of extra time can still do it without getting stressed out. If other students want to volunteer more than they can and they can get even more recognized for it. No matter what reason you do it this will look good on your resume or college application that you care about helping other people out without getting paid for it.
I do not agree with the facts that it could help someone get into a college or job, because if a college or job looked into the service hours and found out that they had to do them, would they consider the applicant to be doing something nice or just doing it for the reward of graduating high school? I believe that they would look at it as another high school requirement and it would not really help.
ReplyDeleteThere typically is not a lot of recognition after doing community service. Service work can already be stressful for the person itself. The stress include the other people they are working with or the work itself. Finally, I feel it is impossible to make the service hours low enough. Community service can take a while per day, and I feel teenagers are the most busiest age group of all.
ReplyDelete