The youth of today are generally considered to lack social knowledge and experience, which are of crucial importance in their future development. To solve this problem, some people suggest that they should undertake a period of voluntary work in the local community, helping people around them. Personally, I believe that making young people do voluntary work would be very beneficial for the youth as well as for the society, and the negative effects of such an approach would be negligible.
Undoubtedly, it will benefit the young people enormously if they do a certain period of unpaid work. By helping the elderly, the sick and the disabled directly, or participating in charitable activities like raising funds or offering free consultation, young people will certainly gain and accumulate sorne valuable first-hand experience and know more about the society.
Moreover, young people with such experiences are more likely to become the most motivated ones in academic study or at work, and eventually become responsible citizens of the society. As far as the community is concerned, it will definitely become better with so many zealous young volunteers who are ready to help.
However, there may be some disadvantages if the young provide free service helping people in need. For example, it may conflict with their normal study or work if not arranged well. Then the result may be not as desirable as what is expected. But I think this sort of problem can be easily taken care of by meticulous planning by the school authorities.
To conclude, competitiveness of modern life and influence of global culture have isolated children from neighbourhood. So, making them do some voluntary community work would be very beneficial to make today’s children feel part of the society they live in.