Can Mandatory Community Service Work?
Lots of organizations coordinate youth community service work. And you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would oppose the idea of kids pitching in and helping out make the community a better place for everybody to live. It’s good for the community because we are using that boundless energy and physical stamina of youth for a good cause. It’s good for the causes helped because there is no end of work to be done. And it’s good for the kids because it helps them think about other people, it gives them a strong sense of self-esteem and it helps them learn new skills and meet others in the community they might never meet otherwise.
But when those in leadership at the local, state or national level propose some form of uniform mandatory community service for youth that seems to change the nature of the program so dramatically that the discussion turns sour pretty fast.
It might be that the term “mandatory community service” has a negative connotation because so often, that is part of the sentencing of someone who has run afoul of the law and is given so many hundred hours of community service to pay back their debt to society. So if we are going to implement any form of mandatory community service for teenagers or kids on our society, we need to think it through and take advantage or programs that have successfully mandated community service for kids and have had success.
There are ample examples of youth organizations that have worked community service into their programs so successfully that the youth perform the service with enthusiasm and actually have a lot of fun with it. And that is the spirit you want everyone to have on a community service project, adult and youth alike. Often times voluntary school programs such as band, academic clubs, other competitive societies such as chess or debate clubs will include a form of community service as part of the requirements for membership. The service can be integrated with the activity such as having the chess club members spend a day a month at the shelter teaching chess to homeless kids. The youth associate their ambitions to become great at the skill they are seeking with sharing that skill with others.
Churches and youth organizations not affiliated with schools also have great success with community service. When you see a church youth group outside the walls of the church, you can bet they are probably busy painting someone’s porch, feeding the less fortunate or doing something of value for the community. The church can put a positive slant on it that fits with the mission of the organization by calling it a “mission to our own town” but the outcome is the same.
One of the most outstanding examples of an organization that turns community service into a value that is eagerly sought by their youth is the Boy Scouts of America. In Boy Scouts, the young men must complete a certain number of hours of organized “service hours” to make the next rank in scouting. The program places a high value on advancing in rank, which is rewarded with pomp and circumstance during the advancement ceremony and badges for their uniforms, which young men pursue with zeal.
The key is to tie the community service to something the youth want to do. If the mandatory community service is integrated with advancement, achievement and rewards, the short term “pay off” is all a kid needs to roll their sleeves up and get in there and work. And if they have fun side by side with adults they admire, you have a formula for a program of mandatory community service for youth that is sure to be a success.
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Disclaimer
The Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in the creation of this website, notwithstanding the fact that he does not warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate due to the rapidly changing nature of the Internet.
This site is a common sense guide to Can Mandatory Community Service Work?. In practical advice websites, like anything else in life, there are no guarantees of income made. Readers are cautioned to reply on their own judgment about their individual circumstances to act accordingly.
This site is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.
Any perceived slights of specific people or organizations are unintentional.
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Young Hands Making a Difference
A Different Kind of Christmas
A Rich Retirement
Can Mandatory Community Service Work?
Children Reaching Children
Coming Together
Community Service is a Family Affair
Frats are not all like “Animal House”
Getting the Government out of Community Service
Helping Hands Around the World
How the Rich Really Get Richer
It Takes a Village
Jerry’s Kids
Merchants Reach Out
Real Patriotism
Taking the Hell out of Hell’s Angels
Teens on a Mission from God
The Church as Good Neighbor
The Evidence of Eagles
The Good Lawyers
The Greatest Generation
The Miracle of Habitat for Humanity
The Power of Working Together
Those Men on Tiny Motorcycles and the Funny Hats
What’s in it for Them?
What You Can Do for Your Country
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