Volunteering is good for students or not?

It is argued that volunteering should be made part of the school curriculum. This essay agrees with that suggestion completely because of the benefits it brings to pupils. The essay will first look at how voluntary work can help students develop soft skills and then discuss how these extracurricular activities are valued by universities and employers. Education should not be limited to strictly academic pursuits and those in education should also develop life skills, such as teamwork, empathy and self-discipline, and one of the best ways to hone these aptitudes is through community service. Serving those less fortunate than ourselves teaches us many lessons including how to work with people from other backgrounds and the value of hard work. For example, I personally volunteered to spend 6 weeks in Africa teaching disadvantaged children and this led to a much higher work ethic when I returned to my studies. Many colleges and companies are also increasingly looking for this type of experience. Most school leavers have the same grades and charitable works can help set you apart from the herd. For example, Cambridge and Oxford receive thousands of applications from straight-A students every year and can only accept a small percentage of applicants. What you have done outside the classroom is often the thing that differentiates you from everyone else and gets you that coveted spot. In conclusion, teenagers should be made to partake in unpaid work as part of their schooling because it will help them learn things they wouldn’t ordinarily learn from their teachers and it will also boost their chances of getting into third level education. Some people believe that unpaid community service should be a compulsory part of high school programmes (for example working for a charity, improving the neighborhood or teaching sports to younger children). To what extent do you agree or disagree? Education plays a very important role in the lives of people. Some people are of the opinion that unpaid community services should be made compulsory for school students. In my opinion, the advantages of adding unpaid community service to the school curriculum outweigh the drawbacks, if any. Children have very impressionable minds and school programs should be designed in such a way that they will ensure the overall development of the child. Dignity of labor is an essential topic that is covered in the school curriculum but it is better understood when children actually engage in various forms of labour. For example, when students are made to do community service like cleaning up a park every Friday, it instills in them respect for the person doing that job and also a greater awareness that littering is a bad habit. Some people will argue that a child should not be put through these kinds of experiences as they should be made to aspire for greater things in life by working really hard in school. Moreover, they should spend more time studying. I believe if the importance of serving the society is instilled in the children from a very early age, they will grow up to become a much more socially aware and socially responsible person. For example, in Japanese education system, special emphasis is given to community service, though many people do not understand why it is necessary. However, the purpose of this became clear during the recently concluded football World Cup in Russia. Although the Japanese team lost the semi final match they won the hearts of many people by the service they provided by cleaning up the stands of a foreign country. In conclusion, the advantages of mandatory community service in school outweigh any disadvantages associated with it. After studying the pros and cons, I am convinced that community service helps the overall development of the child and subsequently the nation.