So, instead of a formal multiple choice final in sociology, we do community service and write a paper on our experience and how it relates to sociology. When I was a freshman we had to do community service for English along with a final test. We had to do 8 hours then. This year for sociology, we do 10 hours. As a freshman I found this mandatory community service as a waste of time. Now as a senior, I still don't look forward to doing it, but it beats a final and offers many opportunities. I am not completely sure what I will be doing but I am interested in a retirement home or some sort of food drive or soup kitchen. I think it would do a lot of good to help the less fortunate and see how other people live when they may be apart of another society, like a retirement home or the inner-city. Seeing how they live can affect how I live my life.
Though it cannot be done now, but in years to come, I would love to see how many people participate in community service after high school and college after being forced to to take part of it in high school. In my opinion, you should volunteer because you want to. Forcing student to do it, I think, may actually cause them to resent it later in life. A similar example would be reading. People on average tend to stop reading after schooling. One case could easily be they have grown resentment towards the idea after being forced to read things they didn't want to read in high school and college. Reading is another thing I think people should do because they want to, not because they are forced to. This is just an opinion, but with a sociological imagination and stepping back to look at the issue in years to come, we could really see its effect.
Though I am also being forced to volunteer, I will still put forth 100% effort and look at it with a positive point of view. I know that I can learn from this experience and also socialize with my friends and people I may never have met before. All in all, I cannot wait to start planning my community service.
yo i agree with you. Although we are being forced to participate in this community service project, I know we are going to learn a ton from it and it will be a lot of fun meeting new people and helping those in need.
ReplyDeleteAlex-
ReplyDeleteI would disagree with 2 ideas here:
1. The idea that you are forced into community service. I get that it is an assignment, but the class itself is an elective. You are choosing to be a part of the class and the service experience is part of that. You know what I mean? It's like going to the movies but then complaining that you have to watch it in the dark. The service is the class.
2. The idea that being forced makes you not want to do it later. An interesting twist to this is - I think while you are forced to do it, you don't want to, but then later you are more likely to do it when it is on your own terms. For example, a friend of mine and I always hated to read and felt so much of it was forced, but then when college was over, we both started reading all the time. It was easier and more enjoyable because it wasn't a requirement anymore...but being forced in the first place opened our mind up to it.
In any case, I am glad you are willing to give 100% anyway. Thanks for that and for being a part of the class. And, like a good movie, lets wait until the end to see how you feel about it all, and in the meantime just engage yourself in it.