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Amy
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Volunteering as a requirement for graduation
April 11, 2007 - 01:46 PM
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I have heard recently about plans to make volunteer hours a requirement for graduating from high school in some places. Is this a good idea? Are you someone who was required to perform volunteer work through your school? What was your experience like? I think one of the big problems with the world today is that people tend to think only of themselves. Perhaps more volunteering would widen perspectives.
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MISSracquel
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Re: Volunteering as a requirement for graduation
April 16, 2007 - 04:29 PM
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AmyNeufeld wrote:
I have heard recently about plans to make volunteer hours a requirement for graduating from high school in some places. Is this a good idea? Are you someone who was required to perform volunteer work through your school? What was your experience like? I think one of the big problems with the world today is that people tend to think only of themselves. Perhaps more volunteering would widen perspectives.
I'm in the eleventh grade and so far I have 38 hours under my belt.
The experience i had was great, i met new people and had such a fun time
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Amy
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Re: Volunteering as a requirement for graduation
April 16, 2007 - 04:42 PM
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missracquel wrote:
<a href="http://profiles.takingitglobal.org/
I'm in the eleventh grade and so far I have 38 hours under my belt.
The experience i had was great, i met new people and had such a fun time
What sort of volunteer work have you done?
This post was edited on: 2007-04-16 at 04:43 PM by: AmyNeufeld
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Lauren M
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Re: Volunteering as a requirement for graduation
April 17, 2007 - 11:25 AM
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It is mandatory to have 40 hours to graduate from high school in Ontario. I have completed my mandatory hours and still continue to volunteer. I have seen many sides of the spectrum. There are some people who get their hours "over with" and never volunteer again throughout high school. There are others who will try to accumulate as many hours as they can for the sake of recieving rewards, recognition and potential university scholarships. Then, there are the people who genuinely love to volunteer and make a difference in the community and don't care about how many hours they have completed. I think I'm a mix of the second two. I really enjoy the volunteer work that I do and the possibilities of scholarships and other rewards are simply perks to helping out in the community.
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Amy
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Re: Volunteering as a requirement for graduation
April 17, 2007 - 11:53 AM
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laurenm wrote:
It is mandatory to have 40 hours to graduate from high school in Ontario. I have completed my mandatory hours and still continue to volunteer. I have seen many sides of the spectrum. There are some people who get their hours "over with" and never volunteer again throughout high school. There are others who will try to accumulate as many hours as they can for the sake of recieving rewards, recognition and potential university scholarships. Then, there are the people who genuinely love to volunteer and make a difference in the community and don't care about how many hours they have completed. I think I'm a mix of the second two. I really enjoy the volunteer work that I do and the possibilities of scholarships and other rewards are simply perks to helping out in the community.
What sort of volunteer work have you done through school?
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Faye
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Re: Volunteering as a requirement for graduation
April 28, 2007 - 09:51 PM
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I think it's a good thing that the mandatory 40 hours is implimented in ontario schools. It provides lots of organizations with the human-power necessary to pull off otherwise difficult events, just by contacting a highschool's guidance department.
However, I agree with Laurenm. Plenty of kids wait till the last possible minute, and then grab as many hours as possible from the easiest sources in their last few months of school.
What's nice is that the hour registration allows at least some recognition for those students who put in massive amounts of extracurricular volunteer work. (273 hours and counting!)
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Laura Mannell
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Re: Volunteering as a requirement for graduation
June 6, 2007 - 12:39 PM
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I was part of the first graduating class who had to complete 40 hours in order to graduate. In general, I think that it is a nice idea, but the problem is that people are doing it for the wrong reasons. I personally feel that it should not be forced upon people (especially as it does not coincide directly with your educational merit, and therefore I do not feel that if you do not complete them you cannot graduate). I think that volunteer hours should be more of a reward system linked to scholarships, or awards when you graduate. I feel that you should be rewarded for completing 38 hours of community service and not punished for not getting those last two hours.
On another note, I feel that more volunteer opportunities should be publicly known and more accessible so people can volunteer doing things that have meaning to them rather than "whatever is left" or "whatever is easy"! I really think this would encourage people to go above and beyond.
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espoir
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Re: Volunteering as a requirement for graduation
June 10, 2007 - 02:29 AM
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I was also required to complete 40 hours of community service in order to graduate from high school while I was in Ontario, and I thought that it was a reasonable requirement and actually beneficial to the students because it also works well towards college applications. After I moved to the States my sophomore year, I still seek to volunteer actively because I've been influenced by that mindset I had in Canada. Volunteering is exciting and usually a fun and rewarding experience, especially when you're helping someone and receive their appreciation.
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Raine
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Re: Volunteering as a requirement for graduation
June 24, 2007 - 09:57 PM
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Maybe instead of 40 hours required for all of highschool, there could be a mandatory amount of hours every few months that goes towards a "volunteer" grade, like a class. It would show up on report cards and permanant records. Then, people who filled 40 hours for all of highschool would get an A on their record, 35 would equal a B, and so on.
At my school, they just have an incentive type program called National Honors Society. i think it's nation wide but i'm not sure. We have greater chances at scholarships and are give greater priority by colleges. It's a good program but a lot of people are too lazy or are uninformed and just don't do the requirements for it. it would be better if everyone in schools volunteered.
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mhlalisi
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Re: Volunteering as a requirement for graduation
June 26, 2007 - 12:23 PM
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I don't think it would be right to force people to volunteer because I feel that being a volunteer is a calling not just something you wake one morning and decide to do. You have to understand the state of the worlg first and be motivated and inspired to create change - that's when you can decide to volunteer and change things.
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Beth
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Re: Volunteering as a requirement for graduation
June 26, 2007 - 03:33 PM
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Both these alternative views seem very legit: on one hand--is it really volunteering if we're Forced to do it? On the other hand--the experience of volunteering can be so great and volunteering as a requirement will allow people to learn this.
Personally, I wish I would have been asked to participate in volunteering with more "force" earlier in life. I have a love for many volunteer opportunities, but did not learn of it until attending university. In high school, I knew of opportunities, but saw it was something time-consuming that other kinds of people did. It didn't fit my image of myself in high school.
What I would like to see along with a SMALL number of "required" volunteer hours is a seminar. A small group of people that meet approximately once a week (for a semester or a year) to discuss topics including service learning and world issues. This will allow people to first understand world issues that they will be addressing with their chosen form of volunteering and second learn from that volunteering through a process of service learning. A couple of links--http://www.alternativebreaks.org/ AND http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_learning
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Nick Toufexis
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Re: Volunteering as a requirement for graduation
June 29, 2007 - 08:51 AM
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Volunteering is still an option in my country which, unfortunately, many refuse to consider. I volunteered at a Children's Home for the International Award. Sometimes I had to do it right after school and I was absolutely exhausted, but overall it was a great experience: making new friends, appreciating others, and so on.
I agree with the idea of creating some sort of "awareness programme" that would inform people about the importance and the benefits of volunteering. However, having to volunteer in order to graduate does seem rather excessive... it might be better to adopt a type of system in which you can work up to a certain required standard by gaining points through creative activities such as team sports, volunteering e.t.c.
I strongly recommend you consider taking the International Award - it's worthwhile! You can check it out at the link below:
[link="http://www.intaward.org/"]
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franmarie
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Re: Volunteering as a requirement for graduation
August 12, 2007 - 04:53 AM
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hi there!
volunteerism is never a problem in the educational system here in my country. we are never required to volunteer just to graduate.
but, in some cases, volunteerism is part of a pre-requisite in some areas. but usually it is only limited to 20 hours and students are given options on where to volunteer.
The schools, universities and external linkages have lots of volunteerism program for students to choose from according to their interests and capabilities, and most students prefer this. Students are not required of any timeframe, only DEDICATION TO SERVE.
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Tonya
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Re: Volunteering as a requirement for graduation
August 17, 2007 - 12:30 PM
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Sometimes it takes a little force to get the ball rolling, but there's nothing wrong with that.
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Torsten
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Re: Volunteering as a requirement for graduation
August 28, 2007 - 03:26 PM
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Doesn't making voulunteering for social benefits obligatory to graduate take away the idea of the work being done by your own choice (i.e. creat a paradox)? This might sound a little bit strange, but wouldn't you make voluntary work to some kind of parody of itself?
I'm sure that it is a good idea to help each others, but wouldn't some sort of voulntary system work better? After all, if you are forced to do work you might do it uncaring and sluggishly.
Just my thoughts regarding that matter
Arakasi
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