When Volunteerism Isn’t Noble

Helena Li-Ti Tseng
Ms. Watt
Basic Writing 3
23 October 2012
“When Volunteerism Isn’t Noble” What is volunteering? In my beliefs, volunteering is an activity that involves spending time and benefits someone else. In the passage, “When Volunteerism Isn’t Noble,” by Steirer, believes that volunteer is something people should do on their own will. The author is against the policy of high school students having to reach a certain amount of community services hours to receive a diploma in order to graduate. In high school, Steirer refused to comply with her high school’s rules about volunteering for graduation, because she believes that if doing community service were mandatory, it would not be called volunteering? Ironically, Steirer did volunteer during her high school years, but she never submitted her hours to school because her own beliefs and was never able to receive her diploma. I agree with Steier’s idea, but I do not support what her decision on risking her future. I not only believe our future is the most important thing but also that students should volunteer on their own will, not just because they want to graduate. I would rather do hours and hours of community service than meeting the graduation requirement. This way I can show that I do not do the hours just to graduate; I do them because I actually want to help people and want to do something for my community. At the end of my senior year, I had almost 60 hours of community service. There was a mandatory volunteering even for all the seniors. My friends and I volunteered the most difficult one out of the choices. We have to travel up to the mountains to teach aboriginal (Taiwanese) children English and some American cultures. It was a great pleasure to spend time with the children. My friends and I had taught them different things from American culture, and they also taught us things we had never seen. After a week of volunteering on the mountain, I ended up graduating with 70 hours of community service. I was really happy with the result. I also have realized that some people who traveled up to the mountain just because they need community service hours.
Why not keep the mandatory volunteering? When I was on the mountain teaching the children, I realized a lot of the children there are really naive, and they do not really know what is happening around the world due to lack of technology resources. This was our responsibility to help them with what they needed. We live in a wealthy family, and we do not understand how the other sides of people are living. I believe mandatory volunteering is a way to get us involve into the community. Also, we actually help people who needed help, and understand them. I always believe that doing these services are something we should do in order to return to the community. If I did so much for my community, why not take credit from? Sometimes we can actually learn things when we volunteering. However; I believe that it is not a bad idea for high schools to require a certain amount of volunteer time to be completed before graduation. Not only will get students involved into their community but also will benefit people who needed it. I agree with Steirer’s idea and I support her believes on volunteering shouldn't be mandatory. Therefore, the act of volunteering should come from within.