Persuasive Essay Sample on Mandatory Community Service

Schools all across the country are moving toward mandating community service for graduation. However, there is a question emerging with this trend about whether it is beneficial for schools to require community service. Supporters of these mandates say that requiring community service leads students to complete work they would not do if not required … but critics often argue that students accomplish above an average amount of community service when not required. Requiring community service in schools is not beneficial as it places an unfair burden on students and leads to a lack of community service later on.

Mandating community service is an unfair burden to place on students. Students who “work to make money.. [to] support themselves”  (Ain, 10) and are dependent on that, may not have the time for community service. This provides a disadvantage to lower income students because they may not be able to complete the community service requirement that is needed to graduate. The mandate not only is a burden for students who support themselves, but also prevents students from focusing on schoolwork. Students are forced to complete the community service for graduation, but the load placed on them to carry on this mandate, may be a “ distraction from academic studies”(Ain, 23) The burden that is placed on students to complete this mandate is unfair as it distracts students from schoolwork, and other priorities they may have.

 Forced community service can lead to lack of service later in life.  Maryland, a state where  “75 to 100 hours of community service to graduate”(Oosterhoff,1) is mandated, found the requirement led to a rise in middle school involvement in volunteering. Granted these reports may sound enticing, data shows the mandate in place led to “decreased volunteering among older students”(Sparks, 2). Another point considered is, students who are assigned community service as a punishment may see it as nothing more than a punishment and not want to volunteer. In fact, many parents are in negation of the community service mandate because schools have regarded community service to be ''always thought of as a punishment.''(Ain,24) This may lead students to find it unenjoyable and have negative thoughts about community service because it was used against them in schools. This can lower the overall amount of community service later on because of mandates in school.

The opposing side may say that if community service was not compulsory, nobody would partake in it. People in favor of mandatory community service often claim, just like  “a lot of kids would [not] read all the books and do their assignments” (Ain,36) if not required by teachers, students would not undertake community service if given the choice.Although this point could potentially be true, the data points out that many students are actively volunteering even without a mandate. Evidence shows “75 percent of the district's 1,200 high school students perform 25 to 75 hours of community service” (Ain,17).The claim formed by the opposing side mentions that students will stop  volunteering if community service is not mandated anymore. Although many believe this, the majority of students are still volunteering and completing acts of community service voluntarily, so the pressure of having to complete it is alleviated. 

Ultimately, forcing students to perform involuntary hours of service as an incentive to graduate is counterproductive. Mandatory community service is an unfair burden for students to deal with. It lowers the amount of volunteering done later on in life. Requiring students to complete community service to graduate is more harmful than beneficial.