Issue

Yes. Required service is the best strategy for graduating smart, thoughtful, and committed citizens. A graduation requirement says unequivocally that public schools are dedicated to teaching the virtue of good citizenship to all students.Without a requirement, whether a student gets involved in service activities—tutoring, visiting the elderly, launching a recycling campaign—depends on happen-stance. Will the values of students' families spur involvement? Will a particular teacher or counselor care to get them involved? With a requirement, all young people will learn that they can be effective and powerful, that they can solve problems in their school and community, and that helping others can be enjoyable. Students will come to understand citizenship not merely as obeying the laws, or even voting, but as active participation in the life of the community.A service learning requirement also has the potential for changing traditional roles. In a well-run service class, students take leading roles while the teacher acts as the coach—helping to hone skills, offering encouragement and suggestions. Most students will learn much more through directed and purposeful service than through dull didactic lectures. Teachers too are invigorated by required service learning. They find that it renews a spirit of idealism and belief in their students.—Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is executive director of the Maryland Student Service Alliance, a public-private partnership that helps develop service learning programs in Maryland.

No—for four reasons. First, all schools have a duty to produce graduates who are strong on the essentials (like reading, writing, and mathematics). Maryland's schools and urban public schools around the country deserve failing grades now on the essentials. Students who aren't up to grade level in math shouldn't be spending time in a mandatory service program.Second, community service programs are intertwined with current public controversies over environmental policies, governmental aid to the poor, policies on AIDS and Alzheimer's disease, and separation of church and state. A "service learning" program will give teachers and social workers a license to instill partisan doctrines, in a setting where students must profess agreement to graduate.Third, this is a chintzy way for politicians to get cheap labor out of young people. Older people who resent young people's youth are using service requirements to try to humble young people by making them perform harsh and repugnant tasks. Instead of paying for social services directly or relying on private charities, busybody politicians are imposing additional petty and mean-spirited rules on young people.Finally, coercion takes the spirit of generosity out of service. The idea of young people voluntarily helping others is an attractive one. But if a legislature or school board makes service mandatory, charities in which people once worked for the joy of helping others will be staffed by resentful young people fulfilling a requirement.—Williamson Evers, a political scientist and visiting fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, is co-author of National Service: Pro & Con.

Should students be required to complete community service for high school graduation? By the state, no. Certainly not at this time, in a state as large and complex as California.Good programs that combine service with academic learning require (1) school-community partnerships that affect the school's decision-making practices, (2) time for planning meaningful service experiences and curriculum development, (3) training for students, teachers, and community members, and (4) rigorous ongoing and summative evaluations. All of these demand extensive commitment and capacity on the part of the school and community. Thus, the decision to mandate service as a graduation requirement is best made at the local level.The state's role, however, is to provide incentives and leadership to this effort. By providing advocacy, funding, expertise, and integration with education reforms, the state can make better use of its resources than by building an extensive compliance mechanism to determine whether yet another state mandate is being implemented.There is no question in my mind that this country must develop a renewed commitment to community service and active civic participation. These values are essential to our form of government, and important for a civilized society. But are these values really best imparted through a legislated mandate? I believe they are better imparted when we build successful programs—when we test our hypotheses and learn how to create service programs that achieve their goals for students and our communities.—Linda Forsyth is CalServe Programs Coordinator. The views expressed here are her own, and do not necessarily represent the policy of the California Department of Education.

I strongly support a service requirement for all students, starting in junior high school and extending at least through college. Community service is the best way possible to connect people to their communities. By getting involved, we learn why certain problems exist, how they affect us, and what we can do to eradicate them. Through service, people work toward solving a problem they care about. We often complain about what is wrong with society but rarely follow through by doing something about it. Experience shows that when we actually put time and effort into improving a situation, we feel satisfied because we addressed something we care about.You may ask, "These are good reasons, but why do we need a requirement?" A requirement gives people the push they need to go out and actually start to do the service. Many will even go far beyond the basic requirement. I know this because at my high school there is a service requirement of 20 hours per year, and many students far exceed it.When my class was presented with the requirement during our freshman year, we were apprehensive about taking risks and being in new situations. However, now as juniors, we are often frustrated because there isn't time to do all the service we would like to do. I believe a nationwide requirement would operate similarly. At first students would be apprehensive, but later service would become an important part of their lives.—Miriam Serxner recently finished her junior year at University High School in San Francisco, California.