Thoughts on Community Service(Article 4)

What is community service? One could describe it as doing voluntary work in order to help people in a particular area/community. High schools do make it mandatory for their students to complete a certain amount of hours for community service and the only reason these students complete these hours is because it looks good on their college resume. This concept is known as “resume padding.” The students say, “…their motive in becoming involved was to make a stronger case to please college admission officer” (Chaptman, 157). Although, there are those who strongly believe that most high school students are motivated to do community service because they enjoy it. An example would be those students who even after completing their hours, still continue to voluntarily work because it feels right to them. Why else would they continue to volunteer? The only logical reason would be because they find it entertaining and it helps them become more responsible, gives them experience on how to work in the real world, and they can also build character. When made mandatory, high school students only see community service as, “…a key to college admission” (Chaptman, 157). What if it was not mandatory and was only suggested from time to time? In this case there would still be those students who would happily volunteer anyways because they know it is the right thing to do. People must believe that yes, there are those who are repulsed at the sheer idea of community service but there are also those who take joy in helping their community without receiving anything in return.