<p>Schools today require students to log countless hours of community service. It's gotten out of hand.</p>
<p>Call me old-fashioned, but community service used to mean something. Charitable work, an important tradition in American culture, once grew out of a family's genuine concern for a cause or from long-standing relationships to houses of worship. And it was based on a shared belief in the value of good deeds. Sadly, it seems we baby boomers took this good and pure idea of service and turned it into its own unique kind of monster.</p>
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<p>Kids are further led to believe that no college will take them without these hours of service. Good grades, athletic achievement, or musical prowess mean nothing if you didn't hand out bread at a soup kitchen. Today, even high school admissions offices look for a strong record of service by junior high and elementary schoolers, which really means their parents better get busy lining up projects.</p>
<p>My school requires community service for graduation. But it is a project. All of your hours are with the same program/group. The idea is develop relationships. I did my service in another country, but friends who did theirs locally are still involved with those organizations.</p>
<p>I don't know if I necessarily agree with the tone of this article. What is so bad about mandatory community service hours? As long as the hours don't go overboard I don't see a drawback except that some people will feel it "counts for less." Helping out (and having to do so) still teaches kids valuable lessons. Are chores at home any less valuable because kids have to do them in order to get allowance or private time? Is going to school any less valuable because it's mandated by law? </p>
<p>Mandatory community service hours are a good thing. Seeing all the opportunities that are out there may open up a world previously unknown to many high schoolers. Directly seeing the importance and significance of what a helping hand is capable of may inspire MORE volunteerism as long as the mandated hours aren't excessive. There are plenty of interesting organizations and activities out there for kids to choose to volunteer in support of.</p>
<p>^ This article isn't contending that schools should stop pursuing their community service requirements. What the article is saying, however, is that the requirements have gotten out of hand, as students in difficult financial situations realistically don't have the time to work two jobs, babysit their siblings, do well in school, AND have the Saturday mornings to devote to completing their community service requirement.</p>
<p>Furthermore, colleges have started to devalue pedestrian, yet beneficial, community service as it's a requirement that most high students have to complete. Though the article seems to ignore Harvard's holistic admissions process (or maybe I just don't know enough about how admissions really work), its underlying contention is correct: students from pecuniarily disadvantaged families have a tough time in the admissions process. When wealthy students can afford to spend their summer building homes in Africa, the meager community service completed by the economically disadvantaged student seems insincere, as the student undertook only what was required of him. Thus, as the article points out, the wealthy student gets in because he seems to care more.</p>
<p>Though I hope holistic admissions takes into account such inequities, economically disadvantaged students and the genuine desire to help people are casualties of the community service requirement. </p>
<p>I remember writing an essay on this in middle school. Mandated volunteerism <- the most charitable of paradoxes? Technically, is it volunteering anymore? Maybe if you're considering not graduating... </p>
<p>I have to do 50 hours for IB anyways (not really that demanding a load though).</p>