PORTFOLIO ESSAY (#2)

Sheri Munson-Castro
Writ 101-Winter 2008
Essay #3
Craig McKenny-Instructor
March 2nd, 2008

Community Service Hours for High School Students: The Meaning and Beneficial Value behind them.

This is a Hot Topic that has been burning the wires as it has been debated a lot during the last couple of years in the State of Washington, as well as across the United States regarding high school students doing community hours as a requirement for graduating from high school as well.At the beginning of this year this plan has been introduced into The Seattle School District’s Academic plan. I received a copy of the syllabus from their high school showing all the requirements needed in order to graduate.

It showed me that all students going to high school in the Seattle School District would need to have completed 40 hours of community service prior to completing the 12th grade.Many of the other states have also started to implement community service hours into their academic plans. The amount of hours that the student will to do will depend on where he or she lives, as each state as well as the school district is different. In fact, some students may not have to do any hours at all due to not all high schools have implemented this plan into their academic requirements for graduation.

There are many supporters for both sides on this matter. On the one side there are some of those that have stated that they feel it’s not right for the children to have to do this without having a say in the matter at all. They have also greatly expressed that they felt it should be something that is a choice for the students to do as well as not being penalized if they don’t sign up for them. Let alone having them completed prior to their graduation.

Then there are those who feel that community service hours are a great thing to have come along. That it will help to build up confidence and self-esteem in the teens as well as help them to connect to their community, as well to become more aware of their surroundings and the people around them.Which for so many teens help’s to fill the emptiness that many have and with that void filled it will help them to go down a better path in life.

As such will be able to make better choices in their life, as they will be more aware of the consequences their actions may cause.I also feel that this is so true as well as feel that it’s a main key factor in what happen to my daughter and her life. What has happen to her has caused her to lose five years out of her life as well as her freedom. Which I believe was due to the fact that she had no real self-esteem in herself and did not feel connected to the community thus, helping to cause her not to fully understand what the consequences from her actions could be.

Causing her to also not feel any shame about some of her actions and in the things she got involved in with the other children that who I belief felt as she did.I feel that they were feeling as lost and confused as she was causing them to not really be connected to their surroundings or the people in their lives or surrounding them day-to-day and in so not fully understanding that they were hurting anyone. My oldest daughter has finally opened her eyes to what and who’s around her as well as recognizing and that she has anger issues. She is learning to become more aware of her surroundings and become part of the community.

The point that I am trying to make here is this (that while I was doing some research into this topic after I first learned about it after my other children entered high school) I have come to feel strongly that by doing community service it’s a great way to help students get involved with the community and help others. I think that it’s a great confidence builder and helps them to really connect. This is something that I feel that everyone needs to have at one time or another in his or her life, which helps him or her to build that connection to something or someone.

Which helps the children to build their confidence in themselves thus, helping to create that bond between them and their community as well as the people surrounding them.There are some websites as well as some articles that have been written on research done by some professors telling their thoughts and opinions on this that I located on this subject.There is a split down the middle on the positive and negative sides to this subject. Some of what I located is stories written by students themselves stating their side on the debate on it as well. Most of the stories that I found were on the positive side supporting the implementing of community service being a requirement in the academic plan in high school.

Many students themselves had also stated in the article that they felt it should actually be introduced into school as early as Middle school. Helping the kids get a jump-start to making the connection in the community, thus getting them started down the right path on the road towards adulthood. There is a Statistical Analysis Report that was written by Kathryn Candler back in 1997, for the National Center for Education Statistic providing them the information that was needed to help on improving the Educational system. It’s a great article that with a lot of information in it that I feel you would want to read.

I also read somewhere once about a statement that Alex Haley, (the famous author who wrote the book Roots) had made where he was quoted as saying: “A Community is built up by the people in it.” Which I have found to be true based upon a simple fact of life, which by being involved in your community and connecting as one is a very important key factor in life. I feel that it helps you to learn how to be less self- centered and more of a team player in life, as you connect together with the community as one you is building it and yourself up together.Thus planting your roots in the community and having a sense of belonging somewhere.

Because building our community and its people up and not knocking them down is important as breathing as we all live in the same community and as such need to learn to live and work together as a community.I have learned so much from all of the research that I did on this topic. I have come to strongly feel that this is something that we will come to appreciate in the future, with this starting to be implemented into the academic school plans in high schools across the United States. I feel that it does help them to get a jump-start on building that connection between students, their school as well as with the community’s they live in. Thus, helping the students want to complete their high school education and maybe even going on to college as well. Who knows what lies in the future, hopefully that we implement this into the Middle schools as well?




Resources:

1.) Academic Requirements for high school students in the Seattle School District (2008)http://www.seattle.edu

2.) Debates: The Positive and Negative sides to community service and students (2007)http://www.browardschools.com

3.) Candler, K.: Statistical Analysis Report for improvement on Education System (1997http://www.ed.gov/NCES/NHES

4.) Haley, Alex (Author of Roots, 1977): Quoted as saying; “A Community is built up by the People in it and as such work together to build it along with the people up, not down.