Excerpted from  “Community Service Requirements in Schools.”  Issues and Controversies, 25 Dec. 1998.  Issues and Controversies on File.  FACTS.com. Glendale Community College Library Media Center, Glendale, AZ. 11 Apr. 2007.

The advent of mandatory community service, however, has ignited a storm of controversy. Critics argue that schools should focus their energies on academic subjects rather than on community service. Students go to school to learn, they point out, not to work. Opponents say that forcing students to volunteer--which they say is a blatant contradiction in terms--also undermines the spirit of volunteerism, which ought to be chosen rather than coerced. Critics add that requiring community service violates students' right to decide for themselves if and how they should serve their communities.
Yet their defenders say that community service requirements enable students to learn about the world around them, to develop a sense of civic duty and to gain self confidence by showing them that they can change their communities for the better. Supporters say such programs can also teach students practical hands-on skills by working to solve the real-life problems in their communities. By working in programs that help the needy or improve the environment, for example, students build character and develop habits that can lead to a lifetime of good works, they say. In modern America, many students are not learning about volunteering from their parents or other role models, proponents say, so schools should take on that responsibility and teach young people how to become active participants in society.
	Jeremy Eagle	The debate over service learning has been fought not only at school boards meetings and in classrooms, but also in the courts. In several states, opponents have filed lawsuits against schools that require students to volunteer in order to graduate. Plaintiffs argue that the schools are violating the Constitution's 13th Amendment, which prohibits involuntary servitude. They argue that forcing students to provide their services for free is exploitative and akin to slavery.

Arguments against Service Requirements
Efforts to require school students to volunteer have drawn considerable criticism. Some opponents argue that requiring students to perform community service contradicts the spirit of volunteering by taking the voluntary element out of it. Even some leaders of volunteer organizations have said that they would rather have people helping them who are there because they want to be, not because someone is telling them they must serve.
Some students have complained that because they have to complete a set amount of service hours, they do not gain as much from the experience as they would have if they had done it of their own free will. Amy Mazerat, then a sophomore at Riverdale High School in Jefferson Parish, La., told the New Orleans Times-Picayune (April 1, 1996), "If you're forcing students to do community service, they will start off with a bad attitude. You're not really serving if you're made to do it."

Support for Service Programs
One of the most common arguments in favor of requiring community service is that such programs are educationally valuable. Many educators say that merging service with classroom learning can enhance students' attitudes, motivation and achievement and can help young people develop communications and critical thinking skills. Others argue that service requirements build students' character, teach them organizational skills and foster their sense of social responsibility.