The High School Graduation Proposal

Our school is mandating its students to participate in unpaid community service as a graduation requirement. Currently, there are many graduating requirements at our school, and adding an additional responsibility is unfair. I believe volunteering is worthwhile for the community and for the volunteers; however, it should not be a mandated graduation requirement.

There are many reasons why students go to school. First and foremost, they go to receive an education. They can also participate in sports, clubs, or other activities. Since there are so many activities a student can participate in and so many rigorous academic requirements, it is unfair to mandate an additional requirement, especially a requirement that is so time-consuming and needs to be completed in the students own time.

Additionally, many students have after-school and weekend commitments that they are responsible for—after-school sports practice, studying for test/quizzes, babysitting siblings, or working at a job to earn money for college and other expenses. By adding mandatory volunteer hours, the time students have for these important responsibilities in their lives limited.

I do not have a bias against volunteering. I just do not think it should be a school requirement. If a student wants to volunteer, he or she will make time for it without having to be burdened with an extra requirement. Volunteering is important and does good for the community. It is important to give back to the community and to work for worthy causes; however, it should be by our free will.