Kali Ramirez Period 1 March 3, 2014
Synthesis Essay
Whether it be at an animal shelter, a marathon, or a hospital, all forms of volunteering are
important to build a community. Though students do not recognize the value of community
service until later in life, high schools should require community service to instill a sense of civic
responsibility and encourage a lifelong habit of helping others.
As said in Source 2, community service needs to be done in order to enrich and build up
communities. Volunteering may develop individuals also because you are no doing it for money
but for the sake of helping. Even though many high school students are forced to do community
service, since it is required for graduation, the fact that they actually do it still has these growing
effects on both the community and individual. Mark Hugo Lopez found in his research that the
amount of youth that dislikes required community service exceeds the amount that favors it. The
only groups that were in favor of it were the oldest age group and the educationally successful,
which shows the positive effect of volunteering, required or not.
If it only help you and the people around you, mandatory community service should
service into an enjoyable task.