Quote:
Originally Posted by AGDee
For high school students, all you would really need a log sheet that they turn in to their counselor with their graduation portfolio. As they do service, they get someone to sign off. It doesn't have to be a huge deal. It could be anything from shoveling snow for an elderly neighbor, volunteering at a local pet shelter, helping at the church when it's their Christnet week, etc. And yes, my kids, through Scouts, do far more than 40 or 50 hours of service a year. I have demonstrated an importance for community service to them and they are always eager to do service. I think they get a lot of self esteem from it in addition to learning more about people less fortunate than they are. There are also community service clubs in their high school. I believe the one my daughter joined is called Interact. I was a candy striper through high school because, at the time, I thought I wanted to be a doctor and thought it would be good for med school apps. While volunteering in the PT department, I got exposed to Occupational Therapy and discovered that OT was a great combination of all the things I wanted to do at some point (teaching, medical field and psychiatry/psychology). The things one learns about themselves while helping others are invaluable.
The type of program Israel has is what I would like to see here, but as I said, the funding would be impossible. There is an Americorps (City Year Detroit) that works out of my building and I think what they do is great. They don't work for free, although the stipend they get doesn't come close to military pay either. I see a lot of college students wandering aimlessly through their first two years of college trying to figure out what to major in, etc. who end up taking 6 years to graduate because they change their major so many times. Having a couple years to do some service and find out more about who you really are and where your true interests and skills lie wouldn't be a bad thing for those kids either.
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If all the high school kids need is to turn in a log sheet, I don't think you will see any appreciable benefit to the community. The kids will track more hours, but I don't hold out much hope that they will actually do more hours.
Sure, I think every high school kid could probably find ways to do 50 authentic hours of service a year. A big group though won't even attempt it, if it isn't mandatory. And another appreciable group will just do a better job tracking every thing they could possible "count," without actually making much of sincere effort to serve. So you're left with the kids who have already been doing service in their families, Scouts, clubs, etc.
A big optional public service initiative probably not going to hurt anything. And it might actually make kids more aware of opportunities that they do have, but I think it can either be a "goal" with little reward or consequence to the kid or to society or it can be a large scale program that's either required or rewarded in a way that makes it more likely that people will participate but will also drive up the cost of the program. Neither one is something I feel like we need federal intervention to do.
As you noted, we've got programs right now that would meet some of the needs and benefits if kids would elect to participate.
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