'Unpaid community' discussion

Topic : 

Some people believe that unpaid community service should be a compulsory part of high school programmes (for example, working for a charity, improving the neighbourhood or teaching sports to younger children).

To what extend do you agree or disagree?

 

Answer : 

 

It is controversial whether unpaid community work should be a mandatory activity in high school programmes or not. I personally believe it is important to include community service in regular programmes as it teaches valuable lessons.

 

First of all, students can learn the feeling of ‘empathy’ which teachers cannot teach through books. As an example, when I was a high school student, I had a chance to do volunteer work at the nursery school. I was responsible to teach simple mathematics to a group of students and it was really challenging to make them focus and understand. After I went through the experience all by myself, I realized the hard work of my teachers in the school and their feelings. It became the moment that I started to appreciate them which led good motivation for me to study harder. 

 

On top of that, community service encourages group work among the students. These days, individualism is very severe and a lot of students are used to doing things by themselves. I believe community work is a great opportunity to learn the importance of collaboration and cooperation among peers. Activities including cleaning the neighbourhood, painting the walls or building a public playground are impossible to conduct individually. However, once the students collaborate and work together, it becomes very easy and everyone can achieve their common goal. I believe such team spirit can be obtained only through the community volunteering work.

 

In conclusion, I believe community volunteer work should be included in high school programmes as it can teach precious lessons such as feeling of empathy and teamwork.