Reasonably, it can be asserted that college and high school students are more involved than ever in community service and volunteerism. While this idea is encouraging, I wonder if volunteering has become as pragmatically necessary as the foreign language requirement. Do students volunteer out of an authentic desire to better themselves and the world, or has volunteering made its way into the herd mentality, with students increasing in numbers, but with lack of noble purpose. Do students today fulfill service requirements to add a bullet on their resumes, or it is out of some higher purpose?
Students may participate in civic engagement in part because they were taught by their parents or community to give back, to know their place in the world, and know that it matters. However, colleges and high schools push volunteerism at administrative and academic levels to help students get to the next step successfully, and with funding. Whether the next step is college, law school, grad school, or a career, students know they must distinguish themselves and service seems a good place.
On purely utilitarian terms, this practical idea of service may be ideal, helping students to succeed while simultaneously bettering the community. But what of the student’s formation of the soul? Are they being cultivated properly to perform service to others as an end in itself or are they always arching towards another benefit for themselves?
Until volunteering stops affecting financial aid or scholarships, it may be difficult to determine what exactly motivates students. For the sake of discussion, what motivates YOU to volunteer?
Now that I am in college, I volunteer out of a sincere desire to give something back to the community. I am in the minority, though, and I say this not as a maneuver to make myself appear noble but as a statement of fact.
Kids are basically required to volunteer in high school. My high school required 75 hours, ostensibly as part of their character development, but in reality as resume building. Unfortunately, this denigrates the efforts of those (like my younger brother) who are more sincere in their efforts than I was at their age and than most of their peers are now.
It is narrow self-interest alone that urges the vast majority to "volunteer."
Volunteerism is becoming a form of careerism becuase "educational" establishments are making it a requirement and college kids realize it helps "sell" them to colleges and employers.
The idea that we are suppose to serve and volunteer the state is a farce. The state does not exist to be served by a free people. Since 9/11, so many so-called conservatives and those who confuse conservatism with the Republican Party have acted as if the American federal government were an absolute good. They need to read some Clyde Wilson, ME Bradford, Russell Kirk, and others who warn against glorifying the state.
Society preceeds the state. Thus, voluteering should be done to help your society you live in, not promote a growing government.
Harry... the thing with that is, it's something of a tautology. "You're supposed to volunteer for good reasons, not for bad ones", is what it boils down to.
What I think the best way is? *Make volunteering damn hard work*. Back when I ran a community service club in high school, I was almost fascistic about it... none of the fun-and-light-work activities, none of the "aren't we so great for volunteerism" crud, volunteerism that involved hard, rigorous labor.
It was a masochist's dream, if masochists are inclined to work at soup kitchens.
Of course, during my one-year tenure as president, the club's membership tanked. But they were mostly a bunch of pansies doing it for their college apps, so I can't be blamed. Or at least, that's my story and I'm quasi-neurotically sticking to it.
