Forcing students to complete community service in high school

Introduction

The current support for school-based volunteer service in the United States has developed along two lines that have occasionally intersected. One source of support has come from those interested in the educational and character building benefits of service for students. The other source of support has come from governments, especially the federal government, but also some state governments. (JAMES 331-59)

Discussion

Support for educational programs can be traced to at least the early 1900s. In 1907, arguing for civic education in public schools, Arthur Dunn extolled the virtues of community participation that rested upon “the feeling of personal responsibility for community affairs.” The work of John Dewey, including his call in 1910 for the “moral equivalent of war” that would be possible through service and his assumption that “learning must be grounded in experience,” has also been significant in the development of various kinds of applied and experiential learning. While the Progressive Movement continued through the 1920s and 1930s to promote experiential and service-based learning, it was not until the 1970s that there was a significant increase in interest in community service learning activities among educators and other observers. (Conrad 217) Numerous reports, emanating from national foundations, commissions, universities, and the federal government, decried the alienation of American youth and called for reforms of public education, including community-service learning, work-study programs, internships, and community participation. The late 1980s and 1990s have seen another upsurge of interest by educators, policymakers, researchers, and students in volunteerism, community service, (McPherson 327-28) and service learning. At the university level, Campus Compact (and its various state affiliates) and Campus Opportunity Outreach League (“COOL”) exemplify the importance given to student service by university administrators and students. These two organizations, both founded in the 1980s, are dedicated to encouraging participation in service activities among university and college students.

Besides government programs at the federal level, several states sponsor programs that either mandate or encourage community service in public schools. For example, (Schine 170-75) Maryland now requires that all public school districts include service in their curriculum or require students to carry out seventy-five hours of service before they graduate from high school. In 1991, California created the CalServe Initiative, through which the Department of Education “provides direct funding assistance to [thirty-six] school-community partnerships.” CalServe has set as its goal that half of the state's school districts will have service learning as part of their curricula for all grade levels by 2004. In addition to government initiatives to promote youth service, various nonprofit organizations with interests in youth service have emerged, including Youth Service America and the Constitutional Rights Foundation at the national level. Youth Service California, “[which] acts as convener, networker, and promoter to build statewide movements where young people are seen as powerful resources in meeting community needs,” (Lewis 1-4 ) exemplifies these organizations at the state level.

As suggested by the brief historical review, several rationales and/or purposes have developed for community service among high school students. Studies of community service define ...