It is believed that volunteer community services should be made compulsory in high school education. I am in major agreement with this statement. This essay will look into some advantages and disadvantages of doing so, and reinforce the reasons behind my opinions.
Firstly, volunteer community services will provide greater awareness to the general community. Community service can expose students to different backgrounds and lifestyles that they would not normally come into contact with. For example, students that come from homes with good financial stability may not understand what life is like for those with less. Similarly, not everyone can understand the difficulties single parent children face, and engagement can foster better appreciation for having two parents. The hope is for this to in turn foster empathy in the younger generation, which will hopefully develop them to become more caring individuals as they get older.
In addition, volunteer work can generate exposure to various interests. Volunteer work comprises of many different tasks. Having a teenager go through these tasks can spark interest to a particular field. Neighborhood and beach clean-up programs, for example, can bring interest to environmental conservation. Teaching the less fortunate can stir a student to aspire to become an educator in the future.
On the other hand, the concern with forced community service is the reduced time for the basic curriculum and other extra- curricular activities. A strong foundation for any young individual is built on the structure and academics of a curriculum. If coursework has to be taught in a shorter span of time, this will reduce the effectiveness of teaching and reduce the core skills necessary for further education. Moreover, other after school activities, such sport and arts, may be reduced due to time being taken up by compulsory community work. Children with interest and talent for these other activities may not then have time to foster their abilities.
In conclusion, compulsory volunteer community work has its merits where it exposes one to the different aspects of community which can also stir interests to set a student towards a future goal. These benefits far outweigh the drawback concern for reduced time for academics and other activities, as I believe this con can be mitigated relatively simply. By incorporating volunteer work into a standard curriculum, instead of a mere addition, this can alleviate the concerns with time management. As such, given the importance of volunteer work in being able to mould the future generations, I believe its presence should not be optional.