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Honestly, how many of you have done the mad scramble? You know, it’s where you attempt to, or succeed in making a one-time appearance on Thanksgiving and Christmas at a homeless shelter or nursing home only to check it off the list, as your community service is now good to go until next year.
When kids are part of this one and done volunteer strategy, they learn quickly that ‘tis the season to give is just two calendar days a year rather than year-round. They look at volunteering as a task driven effort and not what it’s meant to be.
I had a friend post she needed a “place” for her son to “volunteer.” I was going to ask why, but I knew the answer. “Mom” just realized he was grossly short on community service hours needed for his college app. And it’s those desperate hours that are often so grossly intertwined in not doing good for the sake of good – but doing good for the sake of personal need.
THE REAL VALUE OF A COMMUNITY SERVICE HOUR
This ill-conceived thinking starts in middle school. Like everything else associated with education, community service hours are counted, calculated and credited, as part of the omnipotent student record.
When you hear community service conversations, it usually ends with “that will look good on the resume.” It’s sad, because students miss out on feeling the self-pride and the inherent good feelings of real community service.
As the pandemic self-isolated billions of people, it also prompted many to volunteer in innovative ways. Despite covid, volunteering for others continued to thrive as people found new means of connecting and giving their time and skills.
So, here’s a teaching moment. Since parents start their kids on the college path in kindergarten, how about also starting them on an authentic community service path. Even at a young age they can learn about making others “happy” through connection and interaction.
REAL LIFE GAMERS
Community service is yet another medal we bestow on our kids. I love the serving but despise the mechanism. It needs to be rebuilt from the bottom-up so students can understand and value their potential experiences.
Students must be encouraged to engage in meaningful, sustained community service that is well structured, providing opportunities for reflection, both individually, and with peers and adults.
Sadly enough, community service hours can be “gamed” everywhere. Cleaning your high school’s baseball field (for you) to play on, being one of twenty sitting at an adopt-a-pet center doing absolutely nothing, distributing t-shirts at an event, performing in a half-time show counts in many schools – but shouldn’t.
THE CHECKLIST SYNDROME
Admissions officials have become quite discerning in distinguishing the students with real devotion to volunteering from those who merely dabble to pad their resume.
They become skeptical when they see an applicant who boasts a long list of one-time
“fill in the blank-athon” commitments. Instead of showing well roundedness, this type of scattershot volunteer record suggests the student has no real connection to what they’ve been doing.
What they really want to see is applicants rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty. If a student isn’t truly committed, they are labeled a “goodness gamer.”
IS VOLUNTEERING EVER NOT VOLUNTEERING?
Now comes the argument – But does it really matter why it’s done? Isn’t it enough to volunteer, no matter the motive? Some say yes, some say no. However, it does matter.
We must get kids to understand that real community hours are those that cause positive change. It is not a check in a box when a “task” is fulfilled.
The lesson of charitable giving and community responsibility can start in preschool.
Instilling a sense of personal and civic responsibility in students is as important as academics, if not more. Students can learn the value of helping others, at every age level.
So, here’s a teaching moment. Since parents start their kids on the college path in kindergarten, how about also starting them on an authentic community service path. Even at a young age they can learn about making others “happy” through connection and interaction.
This column is by Ritchie Lucas, Founder of The Student Success Project and Think Factory Consulting. He can be reached by email at ritchie@thinkfactory.com and on Facebook and You Tube as The Student Success Project.
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