Volunteer work entails work that students engage in outside the classroom and the school curriculum. It is a factor that presents a significant opportunity for the students to prepare and shape their futures. It is also presenting a significant chance for the students to facilitate the improvement of their communities. There are various factors associated with the volunteer work done by the students. It is special for achieving various factors for the students, including boosting the socializing skills of the students. It is also viewed as an essential way used by the students to improve their awareness of local organizations and social issues in the communities in which they live. The proponent of volunteering for high school students suggests that the students who engage in volunteering activities have an advantage over their peers who do not volunteer. Mandatory community service should not be allowed and students should only engage in community service at their will since forced community service is not volunteering, it leads to loss of enthusiasm and morale, and is overwhelming to some students.
The volunteering exercise entails more than simply spending time participating in selfless activities focused on benefiting other individuals. Community service significantly affects the entire community in addition to affecting the individuals who engage in the exercise. A significant number of individuals tend to in a bias way focus on the positive effects of the community service exercise, and fail to focus on the negative factors. As a result of focusing only on its positive aspects, an increased consensus has been that it should be mandatory and that all students should take up community service before eventually graduating. Other than the positive factors associated with community service, there are also negative elements that arise from mandatory community service. Some of the effects of the mandatory community service are temporary on the students and fade away after some time. There are, however permanent effects of mandatory community service that affect the students for eternity. Following the arguments associated with volunteering, the questions addressed by the research is focused on the determination if it essential for the students to be engaged in mandatory volunteer activities. The research question focuses on addressing the factor of mandatory volunteering should even be considered as volunteering, and to determine if it adds value to the students to whom it is imposed.
The scope of the study is to determine differences in the effects of forced mandatory volunteering on students and engagement of students in volunteering initiatives out of personal will and motivations. Following the established relationship, the study seeks to justify the fact that even though the initiatives may be considered as good to certain extents, they should not be forced on students, and students should only be made to engage in the volunteering activities out of a free will. The research focuses on the seeks to create a room for future studies to determine the negative effects of forced volunteering on students.
Over the recent years, it has become a requirement for many schools and other learning institutions that the students engage in mandatory community service before graduating. In this sense, the learning institutions have presented a requirement of a certain number of hours to be completed in volunteer community service exercises. The community service, as presented by the institutions, require the students to engage in volunteering services, and do activities that originally are not required for their course works and syllabus completion. The argument that suggests that students should engage in volunteering activities suggests that the activities are essential in the building of the character of the students. Even with the argument that volunteering in which students engage are essential in fostering and facilitating the growth and wellbeing of the students there is an alternate through that institutions simply require the students to engage in mandatory volunteering as a way of enabling the institutions to fulfil their corporate social responsibilities.
Engagement of Students Should Be Voluntary
Following the suggestion by learning institutions that students should engage in volunteering services, various arguments have been presented, with some supporting the engagement of students in volunteering, and some against the whole concept of the engagement of the students in the volunteering activities[1]. Among the notions that have been presented to support the need for the engagement of the students in volunteer activities include that it is a way of creating an effective positive impression to admissions officials in various higher learning institutions. Over the last period, a high number of students have continued to apply to colleges with impressive grades and academic records. As a result of the high number of students with good grades, the excellent GPAs and standardized test scores have increasingly failed to appear special to the admission boards.
As students continue to compete with other excellent students to secure admission positions in learning institutions, admission officials go an extra mile to determine more special characteristics and features in the students. As thousands of applicants present similar academic credentials and qualifications, special features and factors among the students provide avenues used by the admissions boards to decide on the students to admit in the institutions. The admission boards focus on students who have extra elements, including out of classroom activities such as sports, part-time work and volunteer initiatives[2]. These students benefit by having an advantaged condition in relations to their competitors. Through the engagement in volunteer activities, the applicants get to prove to the admissions boards that they care about their community. The admission boards also view such applicants as being able to efficiently manage their time, to be able to balance the volunteer work with other commitments.
Through the involvement in volunteer initiative, the individuals get the advantage of getting involved in out of school initiatives and activities. Through the involvement in the activities, the students get the advantage of being able to meet individuals who otherwise, they could not have met. Community service initiatives mainly foster these meetings. For students in learning students, there is a significant value generated from getting involved in initiatives outside the learning institutions in which they are based. The more the number of individuals the students meet, the increased chances of creating connections with the people with whom they interact[3]. The more the number of connections the students created by the time they leave the learning institution, the better placed they are when it comes to looking for jobs and securing employment opportunities. Volunteering enables the students to meet individuals who could eventually act as their mentors and guide them in their career paths. Also, by volunteering is some specific institutions, especially those related to their areas of studies or areas in which they have profession interest, the students gain the advantage of building their career experience and increase their chances of getting job opportunities.
Through the involvement in volunteering activities, the students get the ability to improve their academic credentials. They also get better chances at getting scholarships. It has become an increasing mandatory requirement for high schools, specifically those that use career-based curriculums and those that are affiliated to various religions, that their students engage in certain numbers of volunteer hours before they graduate. Students in these institutions earn academic credentials following the completion of the volunteer hours. In other institutions, students also get awarded academic credentials for engaging in volunteer activities out of a personal will. Most learning institution that provides service-learning as part of the curriculum has their students eligible for some academic, or extra credit in the case that they participate in volunteer time, or get involved in community service initiatives.
Other than the award of extra credits for the volunteer hours, some institutions award community service-based scholarships to their learners. Community service scholarships are increasing in popularity in various learning institutions. The scholarships based on community service and volunteering, in most cases, are not strictly reserved for the college students. There is an increased amount of these scholarships that are offered to high school students who seek to fund their first-year college education. Students with a history in volunteering have an advantage in both the process of the scholarship search and the scholarship application processes. The proof of volunteer hours projects them as responsible and caring individuals to engage in community initiatives.
Forcing Student Leads to Low Enthusiasm and morale
There are various cases where the students face difficulties in the completion of the of their course works. Even with the difficulties that the students face in the bid to efficiently complete their course works, there is the fact that the learning institutions still force them to engage in the volunteer services. Learning institutions make students engage in volunteering initiatives by pointing out the various positive factors that are associated with community service[4]. They, however, fail to point out the negative factors associated with student volunteer initiatives. The colleges encourage students to engage in volunteering activities point out that it entails a better way for the students to spend their free time constructively rather than them staying home and playing with electronics.
Over the last period, students believe that engaging in good time and enjoying their time is centered around playing electronic video games. The engagement of children in games results to the fact that over the recent period, there are children who hardly get out. The lack of engaging in social activities have been cited by leaning institutions for being responsible for killing creativity and innovation in the young generation. Learning institutions argue that the engagement of the students in volunteering activities is an effective way of ensuring that the students engage in outdoor activities. Engaging in volunteering activities provide an efficient platform for the students to grow healthier and stronger. Institutions also argue that the volunteer services in which the students engage are responsible for relieving stress and tension that they face.
Forcing Student is Overwhelming
Refereeing to mandatory community service that schools impose on students as volunteering is a problem and inappropriate. It brings about confusion regarding the distinction of an activity performed freely and of personal will, and an activity on which a person is forced. An obligatory requirement that schools impose on students with the requirement to be fulfilled before the students are allowed to graduate is not a volunteer activity, rather should be referred to in another way that brings about its mandatory aspect. Mandatory community service in which the students engage in as a school requirement is a different element from what the students engage in out of a free will and individual intention. It brings about the loss of the satisfaction generated from the engagement in volunteer community service and instead presents the entire process as cumbersome, tiresome, and stress[5]. While volunteering is supposed to present an aspect of rewarding to the students who engage in it, forcing the students to engage in the activities could eventually make them unrewarding.
Other than the factors presented as being of benefit for the engagement of students in community service, there are also significant factors that present the ideas as not essential. The argument against volunteering students elaborate that there are various adverse factors associated with the volunteering initiatives in which the students engage[6]. Among the factors presented as arguments against mandatory volunteering include that volunteering should be presented as individual initiatives of the students, and not as a forced initiative. True volunteering should be performed out of a personal will. The individuals engaging in volunteering activities should have self-drive and individual will to assist other individuals and the community.
Through forcing students to engage in mandatory, voluntary activity, the individual drive and will are eliminated. The activity changes from a voluntary service to a mandatory system practice used by the learning institutions in jails across the country. Additionally, through the implementation of mandatory, voluntary services by the learning institutions, the students get more requirements to meet their academic qualifications before they eventually graduate. Most students feel that the extra burden is unnecessary, and as a result, a high number of learners oppose the mandatory volunteer requirement.
Requiring all the students to engage in community service before graduating also have the disadvantage of piling pressure on the students. The unnecessary pressure pilled on the students has a further disadvantage of being able to turn them against future volunteer practices. The unnecessary pressure generated as a result of forced mandatory community service affects the students by creating negating experiences associated with the volunteering exercises[7]. The perception that the students generate is that they are controlled and coerced to engage in the activities.
Following the feeling of external control, the natural response that the students would exhibit is the loss of enthusiasm and morale towards the project and the behavior that the project seeks to promote. As opposed to the volunteer services, students tend to view the subjects of the curriculum as essential in their career and future development. Most students, however, fail to understand the importance of the volunteer practices[8]. Student perceives it as negative simply because they are forced to engage in the, rather than being provided with the free will of choice that they needed.
Most of the students who engage in forced volunteer practices are mainly teenagers. At this life stage, the teenagers are also presented with other responsibilities, making significantly busy. The requirement of the students to engage in mandatory community volunteer activities could overwhelm the students. In essence, at this stage, the students are presented with the need to engage and balance other activities, including school work, part-time employment, sports activities and home obligations seem exhausting for the students. Adding volunteering responsibilities exhaust the students. It is essential to that even as the students engage in volunteer activities. They work in environments where they feel safe, respected and comfortable. Failure to feel thee essential factors, the students should be free to stop volunteering. The students should also only volunteer in places where they are allowed to work for reasonable work hours with no extended shifts. Failure to be provided with the right work conditions would make the students lose morale and self-drive towards their work. The result is that the volunteering exercises would fail to be fulfilling, and instead provide torture experience.
Following the arguments generated to support the engagement in voluntary activities, there is the fact that the students generate several positive aspects following the engagement in volunteering activities in the community. The benefits are vast, including that the enable the students to generate better credentials and academic records, they enable the students to get scholarships, and that they present positive ways in which the students can spend their free time. There are also, however, negative factors associated with the engagement in the forced volunteer activities. The negative factors present adverse consequences that could affect the students and how they view and regard the volunteer activities in the past most of the students who face the negative effects are likely to develop a negative attitude towards the activities and the whole purpose that they are meant to present.
With the fact that the volunteering practices have both positive and negative factors that they present, the students must be left to be engaged at the exercise at persona, free will. Different students generate different experiences from the exercise. The students should be let to engage in the process at their free will without being coerced. In this sense, the students with positive eserine’s with the exercise, and feel the desire to continue with the exercise should be left to freely volunteer, however, the welfare of the students who feel threatened by the exercise and not willing to continue should not be forced to continue.
While the volunteering exercises should be encouraging as they present positive aspects and impacts to some of the students and participants, it should also be similarly discouraged foe the students who feel threatened and negatively affected by the entire process and what it entails. Students should only volunteer in the case that their will and intention is towards the volunteering activities[9]. They should only volunteer in the case that they have true interest and dedication towards the particular case in which they volunteer. Following the fact that the will to do so engage, I so much more activities and learn further if they get an internal will to engage in the volunteer practice and exercise. The students, in this case, should not be forced to engage in volunteer activities. However, the students with the will to volunteer should be encouraged to actively take up the practices and exercises.
As a result of the positive and the negative aspects associated with the volunteering exercise, there is a need to conduct further studies to further ascertain the effects of volunteering on students. Among the possible research that could be done include the research to determine how forced volunteering affect the involvement of the students in future volunteering initiatives. The research, in this case, could be focused on the determination of the percentage of forced volunteers who latter engage self-determined volunteer initiatives. The research could be focused on determining the way the attitudes of the students are affected and the level of the certification that the students generate from their future initiatives. The futuristic research would be essential in the determination of whether the forced volunteering initiatives should be continues, or if the students should solely be let to involve in volunteering under personal will and initiative.
The engagement of students in volunteering activities and initiatives has continued to be a mandatory requirement for a significant number of learning institutions. In this sense, the stipulations presented by the leaning institutions is that the students should fulfil an outlined number of volunteering hours before being allowed to graduate. While the volunteering initiatives provide positive effects to the students through their education and career development, there are also negative elements associated with volunteering initiatives. As a result of the negative impacts of the forced volunteer initiatives, students should not be forced to volunteer as the initiatives to not add to academic values. The volunteering initiatives should be left to students who have free will and desire to engage in the initiatives.
