Community service is work which benefits the community. There are individuals that
believe community service is punishment, since it is often
offered to small-time criminals as an alternative to fines or time in jail.
However, community service can be altruistic as in it can be
unselfish concerns for the benefit of others, and its role plays a vital part
in communities. Majority of high schools require a set of community service
hours for a student to graduate and colleges require a similar set of hours in
order for the application for admission to be accepted. Although the rates of
community service may seem healthy, a study suggests that "resume
padding" may be the driving force. "Resume padding is a symptom of
the extraordinary pressure put on young people to achieve a college education,
and the very explicit understanding that a college education is a means to a
decent life in the middle class" (Source 4). Countless young adults
have said that the main reason as to why they do community service is to
"make a stronger case to please college admission officers" (Source
4). This statement proves that young people do not volunteer for the well-being
of others rather for themselves to look like exceptional students.
Few people might
seek and understand that the problem is not what students are required to do
for community service. The question at hand for them, that needs to be answered
is why teachers and members of college admissions committees have the
qualifications to define what is good for the society as a whole, or even for
the students whom they press and force their illogical and irrational beliefs
on? What "expertise" do they have on deciding other people's freedom
and what lessons do students gain from this, except acceptance to illogical
power? Hypothetically speaking, let people believe that students do get a sense
of compassion and generosity from serving others, but who defines the compassion?
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