Is a Service Requirement
the Best Way to Go?
by Mark Cooper Coordinator, The Volunteer Action Center

There's been a great deal of talk about a graduation requirement for community service. Several universities around the country incorporate a service requirement for graduation.

It is clearly evident that what advocates of service requirements are trying to say is that they believe with their hearts that service and service-learning is a pedagogy rooted deeply in the mission of higher education, that they believe in its relevance to studentsŐ lives, and in its capacity to transform individuals, communities, and institutions.

I, however, do not support a stand-alone, graduation requirement of community service or service-learning, although I do support one form of a service-learning requirement. I propose, rather, that each university set and strive for a goal that a percentage of all their academic courses have a service-learning option made available for students to select voluntarily.

I feel strongly that any form of graduation requirement in a public educational institution sends the wrong message to students. It says to students that we feel there is something deficient with them and, as the central power, we feel it is our duty to rush in and fix it. It says to them that we feel they are not the kind of people they should be. We need to be saying that we do not believe there is something deficient in students, but something lacking in our curricula. We need to focus any requirement on the curriculum, not on the students. That means service-learning, not just a requisite number of community service hours!

What we need to be doing is creating a fertile environment in which students have as many opportunities as possible to learn and serve, give of themselves, and enter into a caring relationship with others. The steady growth and eventual institutionalization of service-learning will transform our universities from isolated repositories of talent, knowledge, and resources, to central agents for civic peace, social justice, and community understanding.

• I believe in a student's right to choose. We should be providing a steady momentum, a gentle nudge, and a not-so-well-worn path for students to follow, but we must not mandate a direction. We need to nurture and steer students towards the rewards of service, not hit them over the head with it.

• Requirements are bureaucratic nightmares for staff, faculty, and student alike. Our colleges/universities are filled with a new kind of student- balancing school, work, family, etc. and often they cannot, without time-consuming individual arrangements and paperwork, fulfill the requirements.

• A university must communicate an ethic of service over time. A "culture" and an anticipation of involvement should evolve gradually. However, not only must a "culture" evolve, there also must be strong institutional commitment before there is any talk about requirements. What's the rush? Start small and work your way up.

• I do not pay much weight to why students volunteer or what their motivations are. I don't care how or why someone has come to service. The only thing that is important is what happens while they are doing their service. Students will inevitably discover new rationales, develop new ideals, and discard former constructs through their service activities. And it is for this reason that the "learning" component is critical to the service.

• The emphasis on "putting in the hours" is hazardous and deleterious to the matter at hand.

• I believe that "waking up" is a process. Students who, class after class, see their peers taking a service-learning option, and hear their peers speak with passion about their experiences, will eventually get involved. And if not then you are at least silencing any potential backlash from vocal opponents of service requirements.

• Faculty need to hone their skills in facilitating service-learning and reflection. This means workshops and trainings. Community service is not just something to tack onto an existing syllabus.