On Monday in class Professor Bateman briefly mentioned the fact that it is quite possible that our Generation “X” has performed more hours of community service than the Baby Boomer generation. This increase of service could be due to the fact that it is required of many of us for high school graduation, or the heavy emphasis that college admissions place upon a record of involvement in the community. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely to me that the cause of this increase is true altruistic efforts on the part of young adults.
My question for everyone is whether or not this mandated service will have an impact on our involvement later in life. Do you think that forced volunteering (an oxymoron in itself) will motivate us to be involved members of our communities when we are adults? Or will there be a backlash effect, resulting in even less civic engagement than there is today?
In regard to civic engagement and democracy, is a forcible rebuilding of community ties and mutual service sufficient to invigorate American government? Putnam said in our reading, “To revitalize our democracy we shall need to begin by rebuilding social capital in our communities, by renewing our civic connections.” Can mandated volunteering create civic connections to improve our democracy, or is this too lofty a goal for an instant gratification generation like ourselves?
In a chapter on attitude and behavior, my introductory Psychology course textbook contains a particularly poignant statement, “Doing becomes believing.” By merely going through the motions, we will gradually condition ourselves to believe in and continue whatever behavior we are practicing. My book also says, “Moral action strengthens moral convictions.” Can we change our societal apathy and community unawareness for the future by grudgingly participating in service today?
14 comments:
As much as I hate to be a cynic, I honestly believe that mandated volunteering will do little in the long run to produce conscientious adults who choose to become engaged in the community. As Erin mentioned, our generation is very much rooted in instant gratification, but I’d like to point out that we are also a generation that is driven by the need for entertainment. We love new things, and we’ll continue to love them until something better—newer, cooler, more exciting, more entertaining--comes along. That being said, I think that mandated volunteering will have detrimental consequences in a few years’ time, when the novelty of community service has worn off and young adults begin to see civic engagement as something they have already experienced… something old.
When I consider Erin’s prompt, I wonder if we might already be able to see at least the preliminary consequences of mandated service. The vast majority of college students volunteered in some capacity, even if only to be considered a competitive applicant for college admission. Consider those who volunteered in high school, are now here at DU, and do not plan to go on to graduate school (that is, who have little reason to continue “padding” their resume with community involvement). Of these people, what percentage have continued their civic involvement?
I'm going to slightly disagree with Alyssa. I think that the reason for mandated or forced volunteering will decide whether we continue to be involved in our communities or whether we grow to resent the idea of service. Those who are forced by say the law to do community service as a punishment for their actions will certainly grow to resent it. However, those who do it as a means to an end could fall into either camp. I believe what will truly make the difference is whether or not they are doing service that is meaningful to them.
When I started doing community service in middle school, it wasn't in an effort to prepare for college and it wasn't mandated in my classes. I did service because I loved to serve others. The projects that I picked were ones that I personally enjoyed.
When I got to high school, the same thing happened. I joined community service groups because I liked their projects and I supported their mission. It wasn't in an effort to "pad" my resume for college applications. I hadn't even begun to look at that and didn't until junior year.
Still today, I continue my service not because it might help me get into medical or graduate school, but simply because I love being with other people. I love helping, I love serving my community. I have found projects that I have a passion for, and I firmly believe that if others were to do the same, then it wouldn't matter if the service was mandated or not, people would continue to serve and in a sense, it would be altruistic even though they might gain brownie points later.
It all depends on your attitude and passion for the service you're doing.
We are a generation that doesn't do well with doing something or giving something without receiving something in return. Or at least that's how I perceive most of us, including myself. And just so I don't piss anyone off, I will concede that there are always exceptions and that making broad, sweeping generalizations is typically quite dangerous and ignorant. But bear with me here.
I have always had a problem with the fact that to get into a good college, you were basically required to volunteer and have a record of doing so. Because for me, the concept of volunteering should be exactly that - something you choose to do without receiving anything in return. but because such volunteer work was essentially required by us, we have a mentality that we do it because we receive something in return-a good education. and i understand the push for young people to be volunteering and to be active within their communities, but shouldn't that just be something that is not required or expected but something that the individual actually wants to be doing?
my point is this (at least i think this is my point)- because we have always received something, whether it be abstract or tangible, in return for our community service, our generation will always expect something for ourselves when and if we volunteer later in life. and if we don't receive something in return, we will cease to care about community involvement - why should we care? we don't really seem to be gaining anything from it.
I will try to respond to this post without bashing our generation any more than the rest of you have but I also have a rather pessimistic view about our worth.
Community service or volunteering does not have the purity the idea could posses. As some of us have already stated, the idea of helping others should be approached with passion and enthusiasm. Those who decide the programs and requirements within high schools and colleges do not seem to understand this concept though. Our current form of community service is the equivalent of child labor. For example, I recall in high school being forced to work in a blood drive in order to get an A in my junior English class. Rather than instilling any sense of altruism within me, this order alienated me from the possibility of doing good works.
Community service seems to be a new branch of public relations rather than an opportunity to build stronger individuals. Any institution would love to nurture the image of their students as caring and devoted young adults but this approach does not take into consideration the sincerity of these students and their actions.
"Forced volunteering" would only be effective when placed upon those who have lived lives of unawareness and isolation. For them, this requirement may serve to show them a side of reality that they were never before made to confront and accept. In this way perhaps they would finally see the real need for change and assistance, and would thus go on to volunteer themselves willingly in order to encourage this change and support this assistance. Other than these people, ignorant, whether or not that has been by choice, those who choose to volunteer do so because it fills something inside of them, not because it has been learned or engrained. The spirit of absolute willing volunteering can’t be taught.
I definitely think that volunteer service whether it is mandated or not would lead to an increase in volunteer service later on regardless of outside pressures. It kind of goes back to the psychological principle that if someone exhibits a certain behavior, they are more likely to re-exhibit that behavior. Thus in the volunteering arena, after high school students and other members of Generation X perform their service, they are much more likely to continue the practice. Nevertheless, this is not immune from social factors as well.
We are currently in a very philanthropic time, with organizations that range from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which donates money through RFPs to the Sierra Club; there are so many different ways to volunteer. This subsequently allows for more people to find their niche in the nonprofit arena to help.
As teenagers we are extremely malleable, thus it is difficult to believe that the community service we have all participated in will have no effect on us. I know that seeing other walks of life changes our view of our own, but the novelty of this realization may wear off. We may be molded by our community service such that, as adults, we are desensitized to the plights of others. Violence in movies peaks again every year and we don't stop watching, my generation has become desensitized to many atrocities and it may be the atrocity of my generation that we are immune to emotional appeals for aid. We may stop caring that there are car bombs going off in the middle east or children starving in Africa because, to us, it has always been that way. I have seem countless people die in horrifying reality in movies and on TV and think little of it, I hope that I don't stop caring about the poor because I have seen enough poverty to no longer care.
I think that in most cases, the answer to whether or not a person who is involved in some form of mandatory volunteering will continue to particpitate even when it is no longer required ultimately lies with that individual. Sure, many people do community service solely because they are required to. Others participate because they feel that they have to in order to appeal to certain organizations, such as colleges. But still other people volunteer legitimately, because they want to. These differing reasons for participating in community service simply reflect the differing personalities of people. Some individuals in our society love to serve others in this way, just as other individuals love to play sports or cook or debate politics. It is simply a hobby.
With that being said, I feel that it is a good idea for people to be introduced to the possibility of volunteering through certain mandated programs. As high schoolers or members of an organization or people being punished by the court are forced to serve their community, they are being given the opportunity to maybe find something that they think is worthwhile. Some of these people will continue volunteering after such an experience because they want to and others will participate as long as they are forced and then stop. But either way, the services provided by people in these situations are still beneficial to the community or group they are serving. And therefore, I don't believe that mandated volunteering can be seen as having negative effects on our society.
At this point, I have decided to skip reading everyone else's blog until after I have written and posted my own. This is the only way that I can truly put down my own thoughts and feelings on the subject! So, I apologize if I am extremely redundant.
First, I think people are taking volunteering a little too literal. Especially for this day and age. Instead, I would like to define volunteering (in today's society and economy) as working for a cause without receiving compensation. This definition is completely opposite of the definitions stating that volunteering is doing work by ones own choice.
Taking volunteering into this light, I think mandating volunteering is not at all a contradiction. It's mandating that you work without compensation for some extended period of time. Especially in our day and age where the focus lies solely on the monetary value of an object or act, it is important to introduce this idea to the youth (or others).
In the long run, I believe that people who have been made to volunteer in their lifetime will be more likely to volunteer later on. Volunteering for a cause is great, especially when a goal is accomplished that benefits another person who cannot afford (not just financially) to compensate.
However, there is one flaw with this belief. What will motivate people to help? Will it be genuine? Will I help because I want to help someone...or will I help because I've simply helped before. This mentality could cause much more trouble later on.
I feel like many of us are so cynical about mandated volunteering because we have done so much volunteering in out personal lives already. Most of us are no strangers to community service, having done our fair share in high school and the years before. It seems to me that it is not the fact that we must do community service that bothers us, but the fact that we do not get to choose how and when we do so.
Yet, mandated community service has its place, and we as a class tend to forget that. Many individuals participating in mandated community service have had little to no experience with it before. Mandated community service introduces those individuals to community service who might not otherwise get involved it it.
I don't think that mandated community service might be appropriate for a class such as ours. However, on the whole I think it is a useful and practical endeavor in contemporary society.
I agree with Frazer that mandated community definitely has a place in society, especially in terms of getting into college and applying for scholarships. Please forgive my collective arrogance, but we as college students and moreover as honors students, are the creme de la creme of educated citizens (or at least we will be in four more years.) It should be our duty to use the education we have gathered for the betterment of those that maybe aren't able to spend as much time thinking about the ideal society. In contrast, we live in an idealistic, academic bubble here at DU and spend much of our time contemplating how to better society. All of that time and effort would be for nothing if we weren't asked to get outside of this comfort zone at University and Evans and put our education to use. We gotta act not just think.
Sarai Glass wrote:
Mandated service will have an impact on our outlook at the very least, if not our involvement. Even if the increase is due to getting into good colleges or graduating from high school, people with these ambitions to further their education are obviously people who are going to contribute to society. Civic connections will be made through mandated or voluntary service. It can’t be helped. I can’t imagine someone volunteering, somewhere like Project Angel Heart, and just not feeling so great about would not want to continue to do so. Seeing believes. Agreeing with the psychology textbook, I think going through the motions is sometimes the only way of believing. Social capitol will be strong in our generation because of mandated service. Following the logic of people wanting to further their education, thus having to do community service, not only will they be more productive in the workforce, but they will create better civic connections due to these facts. It is for a reason t hat the university looks at things like community connection- because it is so important, and that it is a conviction that will grow into passion over time. It is only logical then that an improved democracy will be a result of the civic connections that will inevitably be made. Moral action does strengthen moral convictions.
Interestingly enough,the PAH volunteer that Erin H. and I interviewed mentioned that the Baby Boomer generation is now doing a ton of volunteering. Why? Our volunteer, Joey, thought it was because they "have time to give back now."
Think about it: right now the huge ammount of volunteering we do as a generation is just part of the craziness of our college student lives. But one day we'll be retirees with "time to give back." Nothing could induce me to volunteer voluntarily at this moment in my life, but I think regardless of how possitive or negative my past forced volunteering experiences have been, I'll need something to do in 40 years! I don't think forced volunteering could be enough to permanantly sour our generation on the idea of volunteering. People's attitudes and situations change with time. If you think you'll be the exact same person with all the same convictions in 40 years, think again!
Ah, and here's another way to look at it. Were it not for our interview with the volunteer at PAH, I would have looked at this question from how I feel in the here and now instead of asking "how will I feel about volunteering when I'm retired?" If nothing else, I think our forced volunteering has exposed us to older adults who volunteer voluntarily, and enjoy it! Surely that's something we'll remember as we grow older, and perhaps we'll begin to immitate it...you know, like how the older you get the more you (unintentionally) act like your parents? Ok, bad example. But the point is, I think seeing the Baby Boomers volunteering is going to make some kind of positive impresion on generation X, even if we have negative feelings about our own volunteering.
I have always thought that mandating students to volunteer has always been an impetus for kids to view community service as an obligation. We see it as another requirement that we have to fulfill, another assignment we have to do for school, another exercise we have to do to maintain our public image. It is sickening, really. Isn't helping the community supposed to be something we do because we want to? Are we not taught to "love thy neighbor", because from it good things we come? Sure graduating high school is a good, but I always felt that helping others would not be so tangible as a diploma, that the true reward was the joy from helping others with the problems. It may breed a sense of obligation to the community, but forcing kids to help the public good teaches them that it is just one more hurdle we have to jump to get to our true goals (whether it be money, success, a big house, or a nice car) rather than a goal in and of itself.
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