What If Your Kid Isn’t Into Volunteering or Community Service?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:This is why I’m a fan of required community service. Sure, for some kids it’s just a box they check with the most minimal effort they can muster. But for others, it’s the push they need to get involved in something they end up really caring about. My kids work with a neighborhood organization that provides food and health services to others in the local community. They both continued volunteering after satisfying their school requirement. Beyond the general positive experience of helping others, they’ve also built skills in food handling and customer service that they can include on their resumes as they pursue paid jobs.

I don’t know whether my kids would have gotten involved with this organization if not for the school service requirement. But I’m so glad they did and believe it’s had real benefits for them, as well as the organization they’re serving.

+100

It’s good for teen’s mental health too

So are many things…yet schools don’t require you to join a student club, participate in a music/arts EC, play a sport (I know some privates do), etc.

Those are also great for mental health.

Meet genius- my kid plays sports and has a job too. It’s the “giving back”/gratitude/service that is the spike for mental health. Looking outside of oneself and helping others less fortunate. Our society is a mess and selfish.

I guarantee you that more kids would feel happier and have better mental health if they engaged in any of the school activities.

My point is that schools for some reason force you to do community services, but they don't force you to engage with the school. That doesn't make much sense to me since it's practically easier to participate in school activities.

Schools can make community service easy too. Some schools have service days, do projects in school and after school during after care. Some schools make service a regular part of the school day or school week. Some districts have summer camps that are service oriented. Etc. etc. It's all out there and readily available.

Ok…but most of those are designed to just get kids their mandatory hours.

Our school will give service hours for helping decorate for homecoming and all kinds of things.

A friend at a private school says the school offers one week service trips for which students pay to attend which are basically designed to just get kids their service hours the easiest way possible.

These trips are very popular and you are essentially just buying your way out of real CS.

So don't let your kid do those two specific services if you don't like that method. Choose on of the other million options.

You completely missed the point. Why force community service hours just to let kids buy their way out of them or claim CS hours for things that nobody considers CS.

Maybe...just don't make it mandatory at all so kids that really want to do it, can do it.

Because as a community we see the value of encouraging, by requiring, all students to give a little of themselves in some small way at this age. You may not like all the projects some kids do, and we can be sad that some kids "cheat" themselves out of a real experience, but that doesn't mean there is no good in requiring it. SSL reaches thousands of kids in our community, public and private schools, churches and scouts and sports teams, and results in hundreds of thousand of hours of work in our communities. This is a very good thing.

As an immigrant, I am always very impressed by the amount of community service done here. It is a huge benefit to the society and really admire this culture of community service.

I thought there was a lot of community service even before colleges were looking for it. Or did they always require it? Just curious about this aspect. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I live in another state and our public school did not require service hours.

FCPS does not require service hours.

Required service hours are a private school thing.

DCPS requires service hours.

so does MCPS

APS does too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why I’m a fan of required community service. Sure, for some kids it’s just a box they check with the most minimal effort they can muster. But for others, it’s the push they need to get involved in something they end up really caring about. My kids work with a neighborhood organization that provides food and health services to others in the local community. They both continued volunteering after satisfying their school requirement. Beyond the general positive experience of helping others, they’ve also built skills in food handling and customer service that they can include on their resumes as they pursue paid jobs.

I don’t know whether my kids would have gotten involved with this organization if not for the school service requirement. But I’m so glad they did and believe it’s had real benefits for them, as well as the organization they’re serving.

+100

It’s good for teen’s mental health too

So are many things…yet schools don’t require you to join a student club, participate in a music/arts EC, play a sport (I know some privates do), etc.

Those are also great for mental health.

Meet genius- my kid plays sports and has a job too. It’s the “giving back”/gratitude/service that is the spike for mental health. Looking outside of oneself and helping others less fortunate. Our society is a mess and selfish.

I guarantee you that more kids would feel happier and have better mental health if they engaged in any of the school activities.

My point is that schools for some reason force you to do community services, but they don't force you to engage with the school. That doesn't make much sense to me since it's practically easier to participate in school activities.

Schools can make community service easy too. Some schools have service days, do projects in school and after school during after care. Some schools make service a regular part of the school day or school week. Some districts have summer camps that are service oriented. Etc. etc. It's all out there and readily available.

Ok…but most of those are designed to just get kids their mandatory hours.

Our school will give service hours for helping decorate for homecoming and all kinds of things.

A friend at a private school says the school offers one week service trips for which students pay to attend which are basically designed to just get kids their service hours the easiest way possible.

These trips are very popular and you are essentially just buying your way out of real CS.

Sometimes it's a thing that you fake it until you make it.

I also think starting in high school is too late. I've taken my elementary kid to clean up days at the park near our house. Teaching him to care for his park starts early.

Even if it's just checking a box, it's possible your kid will discover something they like volunteering and keep doing it. I have a friend who actually works in the field she started volunteering in when we were teens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid didn’t volunteer or do any community service activities or have impact. The interest has be genuine, authentic. So that box didn’t get checked. That doesn’t mean that they won’t contribute on campus. Kids grow and change and can contribute to their campus/local communities in a lot of other ways. Anyone else whose kid didn’t volunteer?

There are lots of smaller colleges out there who need full pay students. Not everyone has to volunteer if they can't seem to for some reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My view as a parent is that you should suck it up and be useful to society even if you don’t feel like it. I never feel like spending time in a warehouse. I have a genuine interest in sleeping in on the weekends. But I sign myself up to package goods or sort donations anyway.

I am useful to society by obeying the law, having a job, paying taxes, raising my kids properly, etc. The idea that I have any other obligation to go do things I don't want to do "to be useful to society" is preposterous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Universities are looking for kids to make a difference in their communities and for others. Selflessness. It’s big character points.

It's not "selfless" to do something that you're required to do for school, and also that you think will help in a college application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Honestly, what point are you trying to make? Teens shouldn't do community service? That's ridiculous.

Community service was not a thing when I was in high school. We would have thought it was ridiculous. And it is ridiculous, if it's mandatory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in another state and our public school did not require service hours.

FCPS does not require service hours.

Required service hours are a private school thing.

MCPS requires 75 approved service hours to graduate. Only approved organizations are eligible to give MCPS students those hours, you are not allowed to work for your family. Thankfully, they make it relatively easy for the kids, and hand out a few hours here and there for service done in school. Kids who transfer late in high school from other places and who don't have enough hours to graduate are prioritized for those in-school hours.

Thank goodness Virginia doesn't require this.

How is this equitable to poor kids who don't have transportation, must have jobs to support their families or who have to help watch younger siblings?

75 hours is a lot of extra time.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I am against requiring volunteer hours for graduation. If it’s required, it doesn’t meet the definition of being voluntary.

Indeed, it meets the definition of slavery.

Possibly the absolute dumbest take I’ve seen on DCUM, which is saying a lot.

If you are forced to work and you are not paid for it, you are a slave. I'm sorry you're too stupid to understand this elementary concept.

*David Attenborough:* As the smooth brain emerges from its nest, it takes its first faltering steps on spindly, wobbly legs. Gazing around at the big world out there, it attempts to make its mark. It can’t know how weak it actually is, though, and so its roar comes out, comically, as the tiniest squeak. Spent, it returns to its burrow to store up energy for tomorrow’s effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am against requiring volunteer hours for graduation. If it’s required, it doesn’t meet the definition of being voluntary.

Service. Without Pay. Required or not it is legally volunteer work.

I want my kids to actually volunteer of their own free will, not when it’s mandatory to meet a school requirement. Compelling service hours doesn’t inspire the desire to volunteer. In fact, it probably makes kids less likely to volunteer after they graduate.

This is demonstrably untrue. As I posted upthread, my kids continued volunteering after they completed their required hours. The required hours got them started, and they liked it, so they continued. Some kids just do the bare minimum service to complete the requirement—which is still a net positive—while others enjoy the service and keep doing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am against requiring volunteer hours for graduation. If it’s required, it doesn’t meet the definition of being voluntary.

Indeed, it meets the definition of slavery.

Possibly the absolute dumbest take I’ve seen on DCUM, which is saying a lot.

If you are forced to work and you are not paid for it, you are a slave. I'm sorry you're too stupid to understand this elementary concept.

*David Attenborough:* As the smooth brain emerges from its nest, it takes its first faltering steps on spindly, wobbly legs. Gazing around at the big world out there, it attempts to make its mark. It can’t know how weak it actually is, though, and so its roar comes out, comically, as the tiniest squeak. Spent, it returns to its burrow to store up energy for tomorrow’s effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My view as a parent is that you should suck it up and be useful to society even if you don’t feel like it. I never feel like spending time in a warehouse. I have a genuine interest in sleeping in on the weekends. But I sign myself up to package goods or sort donations anyway.

I am useful to society by obeying the law, having a job, paying taxes, raising my kids properly, etc. The idea that I have any other obligation to go do things I don't want to do "to be useful to society" is preposterous.

Personally, I am so glad that the people in my (and my kids') orbit do not share your worldview.

[Anonymous]

My biggest issue with the service hours requirement is that it has to be an "approved" organization that can sign off on the hours. So shoveling for elderly neighbors, or cleaning up the local park, or assisting an elderly relative with their daily life don't "count".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My view as a parent is that you should suck it up and be useful to society even if you don’t feel like it. I never feel like spending time in a warehouse. I have a genuine interest in sleeping in on the weekends. But I sign myself up to package goods or sort donations anyway.

I am useful to society by obeying the law, having a job, paying taxes, raising my kids properly, etc. The idea that I have any other obligation to go do things I don't want to do "to be useful to society" is preposterous.

There's always a core of the community that volunteers and gets everything done. And it's usually the same people contributing across several organizations.

Most of the community uses services in the community community and maybe participates in things offered by the community but does not actively contribute to the helping these organizations operate and run. This is the always the way it happens from what I have seen. So even if you're not one of the people that contributes, let's at least celebrate and appreciate the people that volunteer so much time and energy to the community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My view as a parent is that you should suck it up and be useful to society even if you don’t feel like it. I never feel like spending time in a warehouse. I have a genuine interest in sleeping in on the weekends. But I sign myself up to package goods or sort donations anyway.

I am useful to society by obeying the law, having a job, paying taxes, raising my kids properly, etc. The idea that I have any other obligation to go do things I don't want to do "to be useful to society" is preposterous.

Personally, I am so glad that the people in my (and my kids') orbit do not share your worldview.

+1. But there are so many people like this. Don't let it bring you down.