Community Service

Should public schools require their students to perform community service?

“We can do no great things, only small things with great love” – Mother Teresa. It is the honest truth that no one person can change the world, but if everyone comes together with a big heart to stand up for a common cause it could become revolutionary. We teenagers and young adults are the future of this nation and we need to work hard to make living here more pleasant for the less fortunate. Everyone needs a push to do something, so public schools should require their students to participate in community service. A public school student is defined as any child being educated at a public school from grades kindergarten through twelfth grade. Obviously, younger kids will have to perform easier services than the older, experienced ones. Reasons why this movement should take effect are that community service will keep students from doing bad things, it will give students more experiences, and it looks great on college applications. Did you know that approximately 80% of smokers developed their addiction in high school? High school years are tough enough with schoolwork, bullying, and other things that students might not be able to say no to that peer pressure from their friends. We need to give students a place where they can safely hang out without any illegal and notorious behavior. Furthermore, students who are into fads such as drinking and smoking will have to give these things up while at their community service grounds. This will lessen the amount of illegal intake, and perhaps even stop students from doing these bad deeds. Sometimes, citizens who need help from their community are ones who have made the wrong choices and have overcome them; students could learn from the certain citizens’ pasts and gain the knowledge to be smart and not end up in sticky situations years down the road. As you can see, good deeds can lead to a good lifestyle. And that is what students these days need. “Doctor! Teacher! Astronaut! Firefighter!” all of these are widespread answers to the oh-so-famous question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Rarely, do students actually choose the career that they dreamed about when they were around five years old. On a personal note, my grandmother dreamed to be a doctor all her life, but the day she had to work with a dead body, she fainted and had to give her dream up. She wishes she had known she wouldn’t be a successful doctor so she could have found a profession more suitable for her. Community service will prevent students from going into the wrong professions and expose them to new professions. For example, a student’s community service might be to babysit a group of kids; if they enjoy this task, they may consider working in the teaching field, if not, they might shun from working with young children. In conclusion, community service can be very beneficial to students’ later careers.

Many high school students and their families greatly stress over college applications. What if I told you I knew a way to enhance the chances of being accepted into a college? It’s plain and simple: Community service. For generations colleges have been reaching out to their well-rounded applicants and admitting them into their school. This task has recently become quite difficult for college recruiters because now too many applicants fit the well-balanced category. Having decent grades and playing a sport is not extraordinary these days; if you want to be accepted into a college your application has to be above and beyond. Incidentally, Dosomething.org conducted a survey of college admissions at 33 of the 50 top colleges. They found that along with grades, test scores, and athletics, community service really impresses college recruiters. In a nutshell, community service is an easy way to make yourself look better, and not only in the eyes of admission officers.

As a person who has performed community service from time to time, I know that it really does benefit me. Sure, there are materialistic reasons why people do community service, but I do it for the happiness I get when I can help someone in need. After knowing all the good things about community service who wouldn’t want to take part in this great movement to make the country better? We, the youngsters of America need to step up our game and help out the community. On the contrary, community service is also helpful to us. It will keep us out of trouble, it will give us new experiences, and it will look good on our college applications. On a realistic note, a huge movement can’t occur with just a few people, so public schools should require their students to perform community service. This will develop a bigger helping community and bring students together for a common effort. A select few may feel that whether students help or not doesn’t make a difference, but always remember “We can do no great things, only small things with great love” – Mother Teresa.