Mandated Community Service: A Needed Part of the Modern Curriculum
Over the past ten years, countless school districts across the country have instituted programs that require each student to complete a predetermined number of community services hours to meet graduation requirements. The experiences, generally selected from a list generated and deemed safe and appropriate by the individual school district, must occur after school, on the weekends, or during summer vacations, and each student must document and reflect upon the value of the service in writing.
Some critics, however, argue that forcing a teenage student to enter into an agreement he wishes not to exists as an unconstitutional action that defies basic human rights and can, in a way, represent a detriment to the individual student. Opponents believe that the Thirteenth Amendment, which prohibits involuntary servitude, disallows districts from "enslaving" students. They continue to make the case that if a student must partake in an activity outside the school environment, especially one that he feels disinclined to perform, he must receive compensation for his efforts and time invested.
However, despite staunch opposition and heavy legal involvement, courts have dismissed the claims and upheld a school district's right to fabricate and impose such programs. In The Constitutionality of Mandatory Community Service Programs in Public Schools, Scott Minden recounts courts on multiple levels found that for a district to violate the constitutionality of the amendment they would have to physically or legally punish the students who refused to participate. Because no such punitive arrangements have surfaced, and because students who feel the available list from which to choose is insufficient can, in fact, design their own service opportunity, the idea of mandatory volunteerism has started to entrench itself in American education.
Some critics, however, argue that forcing a teenage student to enter into an agreement he wishes not to exists as an unconstitutional action that defies basic human rights and can, in a way, represent a detriment to the individual student. Opponents believe that the Thirteenth Amendment, which prohibits involuntary servitude, disallows districts from "enslaving" students. They continue to make the case that if a student must partake in an activity outside the school environment, especially one that he feels disinclined to perform, he must receive compensation for his efforts and time invested.
However, despite staunch opposition and heavy legal involvement, courts have dismissed the claims and upheld a school district's right to fabricate and impose such programs. In The Constitutionality of Mandatory Community Service Programs in Public Schools, Scott Minden recounts courts on multiple levels found that for a district to violate the constitutionality of the amendment they would have to physically or legally punish the students who refused to participate. Because no such punitive arrangements have surfaced, and because students who feel the available list from which to choose is insufficient can, in fact, design their own service opportunity, the idea of mandatory volunteerism has started to entrench itself in American education.
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