There are some positives to making community service a requirement for graduation. Community service can lead to personal development benefits. “Exposure to different situations can then teach students how to further develop skills that they have, and how to work on areas they struggle in. In particular, students find that they are able to develop skills in leadership, communication, working well with a team, and finding solutions for problems” (Mary Barge, PrepScholar, 2018). This means that volunteering can actually lead to you having the skills that people that don’t volunteer do not have. Also, volunteering community service hours can actually have health benefits as well. “76% of people who have volunteered in the past twelve months say that volunteering has made them feel happier, and 94% of people report that it improves their mood. 78% of volunteers say that it has lowered their stress levels” (Mary Barge, PrepScholar, 2018). People that volunteer actually have better mental health than those people that do not volunteer.
There are also some negatives to having community service hour requirement for high schoolers. High schoolers often have very busy lives. “Teenagers are often busy. They can easily become overwhelmed with homework, part-time jobs, sporting events and home and church obligations” (Jody Hagensen, TheClassroom, 2019). This article believes that students that are busy probably shouldn’t volunteer, to prevent them from becoming overwhelmed. Also, there are times that there are some rude people in volunteering opportunities, and this article does not believe it is necessary for students to have to deal with an older person that makes them feel uncomfortable.
I believe that community service should be a requirement in high schools for graduation, but not to such an extent that it interferes immensely with the students’ lives. Students that volunteer develop skills that will be important later in their lives, and studies show that they actually feel much happier than they would be if they didn’t volunteer. Students that are busy could volunteer less because the requirement isn’t tremendously high, and still be able to graduate. With proper adult supervision, the adults that would make teens uncomfortable could be monitored and taken care of by the adults.
I feel community service would be very beneficial to students, but I still think it shouldn't be made mandatory. It might build character and all that but students simply don't have enough time to complete it. Imagine not being able to graduate if you have a 4.0 but you're shy a few hours of community service.
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