He’s back and he is at it again! At least he must be doing something right to recognize the obvious flaw (and irony) of forcing young people to volunteer.
Personally, I say that forcing people to volunteer is asinine, whether it is to benefit academic institutions, companies or the government seeking attention to their “street cred” reputation in the eyes of the civilized society. The point of volunteering to help someone or to support something, like a good cause, is all about YOU making the effort to help out or support something ON YOUR OWN TERMS, not on someone else’s terms. No one should force you to volunteer to do anything, no matter how benign or necessary the purpose may seem to you. You may be unwittingly (or naively) doing things that goes against your principles or beliefs, assuming the options to support such causes are limited or selectively favored by those from the top or by the government.
On those who committed minor crimes, I support the idea that lesser (or low-risk) offenders should be required to do some number of hours of community services and attend treatment facilities to avoid jailtime and, generally, save the taxpayers’ costs of holding, housing and feeding them in prisons.
Seriously, I would suggest Galladuet University to review and re-do its community services program policy, either reduce the hours or eliminate the requirement option and give the student body the opportunity to volunteer on their own terms, not on the university’s terms strictly for graduation requirement.
Recently, I learned that most employers no longer recognize or have need for “activities” (or extracurricular activities) on job-seekers’ resumes for the consideration of employment. I do not know if that’s a new trend in this depressing job market out there. Employers, generally, are more interesting in your objectives, work experiences and skills from your resumes, anything else, including volunteer and/or extracurricular activities, are not that important enough. Perhaps, some companies do in some cases, but they are only looking for those who are willing to work hard and put in long hours, volunteer activities outside work would waste companies’ needs, time and money invested upon employees. It all depends on a company’s philosophy about employees’ volunteer activities.
Volunteer to support a good cause or help someone on your own terms, not on anyone else’s terms.
07/05/2009 at 11:29 AM
Every college that I’ve worked at and/or attended has required community service to graduate. Many colleges require this, not only Gallaudet.
I also know that most high schools (at least in the West)also require community service hours in order to graduate.
It’s a new trend, and a good one, in my opinion. Students have plenty of options on WHAT to volunteer for, and volunteering to help out in the community is never harmful. Students get the opportunity to learn about different organizations, their services, and possibly new skills that they could apply to life or future occupations.
07/05/2009 at 12:05 PM
I don’t understand the objection. You can engage in community service in a wide variety of ways, and many colleges and high schools now expect community service from their students. It provides real-life experience you can’t get in a clinical classroom as well as a positive outlet to help the neighborhood.
Employers certainly do look at resumes for internships and real life experience. Those hours answering the tty at the local social work office can translate into a foot in the door at your first job, and the time spent working with mentally ill patients can help you nab that counselling spot at the local psych center. This is an opportunity, not a punishment – even the website Mike points to (since you don’t) says that students can contact their own agencies and set up their own kind of service; they just have to submit the paperwork a week in advance. So I’m not sure what you’re upset about – you make it sound as if everyone is going to be cleaning needles for IV drug users on the whim of the Gallaudet President.
07/05/2009 at 12:35 PM
Apparently, neither of you understand the concept of “mandatory”. Colleges should not force you to that in order to graduate, you are required to perform 80 hours of community services to volunteer. When I was at Gallaudet, I was never required to do anything at the discretion of the college officials other than completing required studies in order for me to graduate.
Read his blog again. His emphasis is on “mandatory” volunteering by collegiate requirement before graduation. The idea of it defeats the purpose of demonstrating your self-worth and can-do offering to help out for a good cause.
07/05/2009 at 2:28 PM
Yes. Let’s eliminate the mandatory requirement for a certain number of credits, correct behavior, etc. etc. also. Why should anything be mandatory?
Let’s be clear. The college is now saying in order to prove students are worthy of graduation, they have to be able to perform community service.
You’re right, it’s not volunteering. So what? Community service isn’t a volunteer-only thing. As Mike notes, criminals do it, religious folk do it as a matter of course, families do it (and the kids don’t have a choice, in many cases…!)
Many colleges do now mandate community service prior to graduation. This is turning into a brouhaha over the meaning of the term “volunteer service.” If you want to make sure they use the term “Community Service,” that’s fine. But don’t tell me this isn’t a good idea because community service only works when someone is being self-effacing.
07/05/2009 at 3:08 PM
The above remarks are absolutely correct. Volunteer work may not be truly voluntary, but it adds credits to the resume, credibility in the interview, experience and shows flexibility. It also shows a hint of community mindedness, which people believe the deaf are lacking.
All of my kids have experience in “volunteer” work and I wholeheartedly support it.
07/05/2009 at 3:17 PM
Let’s be clear. The college is now saying in order to prove students are worthy of graduation, they have to be able to perform community service.
Um, no, colleges does not have to prove that students are worthy of graduation, it’s the students who have to prove themselves by studying hard to pass the required and elective courses in order to graduate. If they cannot pass them, they cannot graduate. Learning through “community service” works via “volunteering” should be elective, not compulsory and should not be a requirement for graduation.
So what? Community service isn’t a volunteer-only thing. As Mike notes, criminals do it, religious folk do it as a matter of course, families do it (and the kids don’t have a choice, in many cases…!)
So what? Wrong! Criminals have to do it because the judges sentenced them to do community service works after the criminals agreed in plea bargain to avoid jail. Religious folks do it out of their spiritual and religious obligations, whether by themselves personally or by the organizations they are involved with.
The problem with the kids not volunteering for “community service works” began with some irresponsible or lazy parents, not doing enough to promote a sense of volunteerism in them or being distracted by oversaturated media/musical entertainment or extensive video gaming. However, most kids get involved in other extracurricular activities such as playing in sports, religious organizations (which does have volunteer activities), or have to work to save money or help out their families financially.
You are not doing this for the community by volunteering, you would be doing this out of your personal obligation to support a good cause and a willingness to help out on your terms. The “community” is going to be fine, with or without you.
And it should NOT be mandatory or compulsory in any way just because some leftist politicians and educators said so.
07/05/2009 at 3:20 PM
Gallaudet isn’t forcing anybody to do anything. If you want to graduate, then you have to meet their requirements before graduation. If you don’t want to volunteer, you don’t have to, and you won’t graduate.
07/05/2009 at 3:46 PM
One can’t consider anything contributive if they’re mandatory.
This is why Gallaudet is still running in place. They’re making some progress such as leaving the CAC but I’m not too sure about the NEAC but one way or other it allows GU to improve on their admission standards. This is so incremental progress.
But, GU needs to remove the graduation requirement that way they can keep students honest when they compile resumes.
That’s why this situation is simply “deaf and dumb” until Gallaudet removes this requirement! Many students are abusing this tidbit by making it appear like they did this volunteer arrangement entirely on their own will. BULL.
No different than saying I don’t smoke only that they find out that cigarettes doesn’t even exist. What a laughing stock =)
Don’t fret. I’m taking a few month’s break from Facebook.
07/05/2009 at 4:35 PM
Oh, I see.
You see this as a whole left-wing political thing.
I see it as a valuable educational experience.
I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.
07/05/2009 at 5:59 PM
Hello, I do not know who the author of this blog is. “Under The Hill” is an interesting name of this Blog.
I will not debate on “Mandatory Volunteer” because I could not care less about it.
I go to a private Christian University and they have their students do community services, whether on their own or through one of their many missions team at the University supported by their Student Government Association.
As a transfer, I am required to do 145 hours of community services to graduate. Freshmen, 200 hours.
While doing community services does take up my time from studies and free time, it does get me out of the house and build my networks out there.
As for Gallaudet required its students to perform community services, their 80 hours required by freshmen are low. This is good public relations for the University and educates the public in its surrounding area about the positive and useful resource of their students to help in the community. I hope that the students will drink less beer, less chances of getting drunk on weekends, and focus on their concerns for community. It is good public relations for both University and students.
It is same as “Mandatory” core courses. Why force math requirement on me when math has nothing to do with my major? Why should I take a required Deaf Culture to graduate when it has nothing to do with my major?
Just lump “community service” along with math, Deaf Culture to get a degree. It is good for the students.
I did not realize that other public University is doing the same thing as my private University is doing, and I believe it is great, especially for Deaf students.
Now, are the Gallaudet Freshmen students getting a lesson on “tipping” in a restaurant during their orientation? I sure hope they are. It is the same reason for community services. There are lessons to be learned out there.
I would prefer that Gallaudet increase its requirement for community service from 80 to 200 hours. Trust me, it is best for the students and they can do it. Just quit getting drunk and party too much.
Ben
07/05/2009 at 6:10 PM
To Rox: If you want to graduate, then you have to meet their requirements before graduation. If you don’t want to volunteer, you don’t have to, and you won’t graduate.
I thought colleges are all about learning and passing required and elective studies in order to get careers in the real world and get ahead in life. I guess compulsory volunteering in college was recently thrown in for good learning measures in order to graduate? I think not.
To Joseph: yes, I see it a left-wing political thing. The government has no business in forcing or requiring anyone to volunteer, either by law or policy. The strongest advocacy for community service works and mandatory volunteering is primarily Democratic, politically and economically.
07/05/2009 at 7:53 PM
Robert Hill,
Gallaudet finally catched up with the necessity of volunteer services among its own students in the 2000s.
Pros and cons about mandatory volunteer services within
Gallaudet University and MSSD.
There are many loopholes how to outmanuever the mandatory volunteer services.
One Gallaudet freshman managed to transfer her own MSSD volunteer hours to Gallaudet University’s volunteer program by just volunteering for the animal shelter near Gallaudet. That student got many benefits like free dog and cat and opporunity to train several dogs for other families.
Many returning students (older students) felt somewhat forced to do the volunteer works, but they could find their own friends to sign the completed volunteer work forms.
Rob and others,
Gallaudet University finally deleted the mandatory requirement for all students to pass the swimming test or not able to graduate.
Their original reason of one student waterd-drowned just weeks after the college graduation.
Handful of students could not possibly master the basic swimming skills and not able to graduate on time, etc.
i am much aware of many conservatives see the higher education institutions as some kind of evil and liberal leanings.
Gallaudet College and other schools of the deaf had been the mainstray of conservative ideals for many years until 1970s. Gallaudet President Elstad paved the liberalization of Gallaudet campus from conservative strongholds, then President Merrill widened more liberal attitudes and removed many absurd conservative policies like not allowing male and female students to swim in the same swimming pool or hold the hands or kiss, etc.
Former NAD President Frederick Schrieder once blasted Dr. Elizabeth Peet with the exact quote – “You need the gutter out of your mind” when Dr. Peets strongly objected to the Kappa Gamma planned student dance event. Schrieber was the student at that time back in late 50s. Dr. Elizabeth Peets lost to the future NAD president and great visionary leadership for the deaf, Frederick Schrieber.
Dr. William Stoke was totally stunned when he was directly told by other Gallaudet faculty members about the comparsion of Gallaudet students to some kind of apes (unintelligent creatures). He definitely changed the deaf world upside down with his ASL linguistic research and discovered the ASL as a true language of the deaf people, etc.
We have to accept the time pendelum of conservative to liberal ideals over time, but I personally prefer practical and convinent solutions than sticking to the ideology all the time.
Robert L. Mason (RLM)
07/05/2009 at 8:43 PM
Ben: Why “Under The Hill”? Well, the author of this blog’s name is Rob Underhill. Get the picture?
ON other hand, you cannot compare Gallaudet with your private Christian university. But you’re right about the benefits of doing community service program — that’s why they are called CSP instead of volunteerism. But the concept behind the CSP is all about volunteerism.
In a way, I agreed with McConnell (!) and Underhill that it is ridiculous for the University to force the students to volunteer their 80 hours for CSP.
On other hand, it is quite tiresome to hear the same ole bullshit about tipping thing. Many people claimed that Deaf people tipped badly. That is urban myth. I already have noticed that Deaf people has gotten better in tipping in the last 15 years. IN fact, one of my good friends who is a local blogger and a popular bartender in Richmond wrote that he got tipped much better from Deaf patrons than from hearing patrons. Umm? Your misconception of certain Deaf individuals failing to tip well stems from YOUR personal experiences, not mine. I guess the ones I observed has done very well. So for you to tell us that we need to improve in tipping is ludicrous and asinine.
I support the concept that Gallaudet has wide array of general courses in which it has nothing to do with your major — it basically helps you to polish your very basic knowledge of all things around you and the society. Deal with it. Mathematics are not something I’m good at but I understand the concept of liberal studies. It is to improve myself in all capacity.
And you should, Ben.
RLM: Fred Schreiber was never the NAD President. He was the first Executive Director of NAD, he was never the President of NAD.
Rob Underhill: It has nothing to do with left-wing or right-wing politics. It has to do with the trends that was passed around thousands of colleges out there. I recall listening to a friend whom worked for Student Affairs, he went to the conference which attracts thousands of colleges’ student affairs on various topics. I remembered seeing him telling me about the new concept, Community Services Program (this was 10 years ago!) being mandated by many colleges. He shrugged and said, “I bet that Gallaudet will adopt this within the next 2 years.”
I did not care because I was graduating that year. And he was right.
Great topic, dude.
R-
07/05/2009 at 10:27 PM
Ben, Joseph, RLM, et all, it has nothing to do with community service programs in colleges, it has to do with MANDATORY volunteering to do these community service works.
Let’s say you are all college students and I’m a high-ranking college administrator holding a piece of official paper for the student body. On the paper, it said: all students are REQUIRED to perform 500 hours of volunteer times in the college’s community service programs before graduation. If you do not do 500 hours of volunteer times, you can not graduate. Even though you would have to pass all the prerequisite and elective courses for graduation, you still cannot graduate without completing the 500 hours of volunteer times along.
Come graduation time, you passed all the courses and ready to move on and work for the real world. Oh, I see that you didn’t complete the 500 hours of required volunteer activities with our community service programs. In fact, you only did 2 hours out of it. How did that happen with this glaring oversight? Well, I regret to inform you that you cannot graduate with a degree this time. Sorry. Perhaps next semester or two would help.
¿Comprehendo?
07/05/2009 at 10:46 PM
I don’t know what the big fuss is about. Yes, it’s a mandatory requirement. But it is something that many colleges and universities are doing. My own university has a “service learning” component for many courses and programs (our own Deaf Studies Program has such a course as a final “capstone” requirement for their graduation.
Are students doing the work out of their own free will? Perhaps and perhaps not. But of those who are not quite so willingly participating, maybe some of them will see how getting involved in their communities helps the communities as well as their own sense of self-worth/engagement in their community life. And maybe some of these folks will decide to continue doing this out of their own free will after they graduate. And our communities will be all the better for the increase in numbers of people working to help others in whatever way they can.
07/06/2009 at 12:52 AM
Whatever the program is called, it is probably flexible enough to allow one to select the type of volunteer work that complements one’s major or one’s interests.
Getting out of the campus, building community contacts and future job opportunities can only help the student and should be built into every major anyway as an undergraduate practicum.
However, as a voluntary activity, it looks better on the resume and labels the student as a serious worker if say, an art major could show 80 hours of work in the Metropolitan Art Gallery on their resume.
I see no negatives about this at all. It’s a win-win situation for all concerned.
07/06/2009 at 1:58 AM
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07/06/2009 at 2:25 AM
Ridor, Thanks for your help. This is my first visit to this blog.
I read your replies to me and I respect that. You are right that it is my experience in my surroundings that Deaf do not tip well.
I also read a news article about a situation near Gallaudet University where the waitress was arrested for tacking tips on the Deaf customer’s bill, because she did tell the Judge that Deaf are lousy tippers.
Gallaudet, then set up a class for new Freshmen to be taught proper behavior during new students orientation.
I do not know if they followed through.
It was not my intention to compare Gally to the Christian University that I go to, but I was surprise that public university also requires students to perform community services. That was new information. I am considering transferring to a Public university this fall, and now know to ask about the community service when I go visit it on July 7th. Hopefully, they will accept the hours in community service I have completed to when I transfer there.
Keep on Bloggin’.
Ben
07/06/2009 at 5:15 AM
I agree with you that employers will not count students’ completed community services hours when they get their future job but they will count student’s completed intern hours before they are ready to be hired. I agree that people who committed crimes they are asked to do their community services. Can’t get a degree at Universities without completed community services hours is crime? Most students are forced to leave Gallaudet because they fail their courses and they may have a good reason and do not want to leave university, they need to get the opportunity to learn from tutors and counseling, to enhance their skills, and about different organizations as their community services for one semester so that they can be better prepared for challenging with their academic or FYS (First Year Siminar) students at Gallaudet are required to complete their courses by attending different workshops which community services hours they have earned are not included in FYS. If Community services are still required, for example, each semester students have 18 to 21 credit hour courses, 20 hours of community service, have a job to earn money, and 250 hours of intern, I think that may be too much for them. What about their break? No break that may cause them to get drunk? What about students, who have learning disabilities or physical diabilities, should their required community services hours be eliminated? I think Gallaudet University or other universities should change their policy to eliminate “students can’t graduate without completing their community services” and move CSP into FYS program for one semester before they are ready to decide which major they are interested in.
07/06/2009 at 6:57 AM
Do you get paid to go to class? No. You VOLUNTEER to go to class. Nobody forces you to go. I’m surprised you’re not griping about Gally FORCING students to go to class. *gasp*
07/06/2009 at 7:35 AM
Um, no, Rox. You have a choice for going to a college or not. Once you’re in college, you don’t volunteer to go to class, you have to take the required courses the college has given you in order to graduate and you don’t have much of a choice to avoid the mandatory volunteering for csp before graduation. In all that, you would have to pay for everything (via student loan).
07/06/2009 at 7:43 AM
Mike has a new blog on the same subject for y’all: “Voluntyranny at Gallaudet University”.
07/06/2009 at 8:20 PM
I don’t look at it politically, I guess some do.
I also look at it as an opportunity for kids to experience this “forced volunteerism” so that they may (hopefully) also get a kick out of “giving.”
It’s quite that simple.
07/06/2009 at 10:14 PM
Then it’s not volunteering. Simply put. Certainly not out of the goodness of their hearts but merely to get enough credits in order to graduate. It’s “social engineering” with an agenda based on emotion.
07/07/2009 at 6:21 AM
You make the choice to go to college. You make the choice to go to class. You make the choice to volunteer. If you decided not to do any of the above, you won’t graduate. You are given the choice to take different classes or participate in different volunteer opportunities. I don’t see how a volunteering requirement is any different than a requirement to go to class. You still are not forced to do anything you don’t want to do.
07/07/2009 at 7:43 AM
Wrong, Rox. Mandatory volunteering is forced volunteering. You don’t have a choice when you are told by someone that you are required to do volunteering while in college. So you didn’t commit any crime or did something stupid enough that lead you to it?
07/07/2009 at 9:27 AM
Mike, it may not be volunteering and it may be social engineering, but, from that experience, more volunteers emerge.
Then again, this is nothing new. It’s not like Obama started this.
07/07/2009 at 10:12 AM
I can’t believe that they are being forced to volunteer. That is ridiculous. What’s the point of volunteering if you’re being forced to do it? Not very genuine in my opinion.
07/07/2009 at 11:41 AM
I agree with you and think Rox is wrong.
07/07/2009 at 12:59 PM
I don’t know…….
I mean..I know many kids currently in college that are so into “me” and not “them” and the idea of volunteering does not cross their minds. I have never volunteered and accidentally did after I had my kids, I realized it was a great way to give back to the community. Not everyone sees it that way.
At work, there was a request for a volunteer to be part of a well known charity event, no one volunteered. I decided to last year, but, this year I said, no..I’m done. I wanted to see if anyone would…so far, none. It’s sad.
Any suggestion for ways to encourage people to volunteer without succumbing to social engineering?
07/07/2009 at 2:15 PM
Candy, teach your kids the values of volunteering by the mean of initiative self-taking. It is never always about the community, it’s all about the self (you, me, anyone) helping out someone or the community without ever being required by someone else or mandated by the law. By volunteering your time from yourself, you are actually taking the initiative to help out. It’s personally rewarding and a win-win situation, for you and for whoever you’re helping out. There’s no money in it, but happiness, being there for a good cause, and a good opportunity to meet and get to know people and other things. One little thing can lead you to something bigger that you never expect out of it.
Charity-based events are the hardest to volunteer for, given a lot of energies, times and money invested to make them work out good for all. Some people can hesitate about volunteering for something like a charity-based event since they wouldn’t know the heads and tails of how to run and manage it. Unless few experienced hands are willing to show them the ropes and stick with ‘em until the end. It takes trying efforts. You might not get all to volunteer, but the few who would and the rest may, hopefully, fall along with them.
The bottom line: it’s all about you (or anybody) take the initiative to help out the community, and never for the community expecting you help them out.
07/07/2009 at 6:47 PM
“…more volunteers emerge.”
They are NOT volunteers! Just like “climate change” is an euphemism for “global warming,” so is “civil service” used as an euphemism for “volunteering.”
07/07/2009 at 6:51 PM
correction: “mandatory civil service” used as an euphemism for “volunteer”.
But we know that’s not true when it’s *mandatory* in the first place.
Don’t call it a volunteer program when it is not.
07/07/2009 at 7:45 PM
It should be designed in such a way that if one does volunteer out of charity it can be counted towards graduation. Others may opt to choose other alternatives to earn credits toward graduation if they feel that volunteering isn’t what they want to do. Volunteering is a deeply personal choice if one feels the need to contribute something back to society. One simply does not force other people to volunteer their valuable and free time to society.
07/08/2009 at 10:58 PM
I cant believe myself. I’m nodding at what McConnell is saying. Hell has frozen — I agreed with him.
I always thought that mandatory volunteering is moronic thing to start with.
R-
07/08/2009 at 11:19 PM
Ridor –
Even a broken (analog) clock is right twice a day….
But look at the what Gallaudet is calling it. If they’re calling it “community service”, then that could be either mandatory or volunteer. If they’re calling it “volunteer ______”, then that would be oxymoronic.
07/09/2009 at 12:33 AM
McConnell and Ridor, won’t wonders cease! I’m throwing in my agreement, too…making part of the requirements for graduation a list of options, like:
–volunteer service, x number of hours, in one’s major area
–volunteer service, x number of hours, general
–practicum, unpaid, x number of hours
–practicum, paid, x number of hours
–creative project folder, to be assessed by a faculty panel
–major project to be donated, to be evaluated by recipient
organization
–a year out for employment (adds maturity and work experience)
The list could go on. Good discussion!
07/29/2009 at 12:02 PM
I am kinda surprised that this is being brought up now since it has been a requirement to graduate Gallaudet for over 10 years!
I am all for this requirement for several reasons. First off, it gives students to put something on their resume besides just jobs. Employers like people that are well rounded, and volunteering looks amazing on a sheet of paper.
I’d also like to point out one more item, if you are a part of a sorority or fraternity, you are required to complete a designated number of service hours each semester with a certain number of members, and these hours can count toward graduation, thus killing two birds with one stone.