Essay/Term paper: Down with community service

Essay, term paper, research paper:  College Essays

Down With Community Service

Dear Editor,

I have recently read an article in the newspaper that concerned young
people doing community service after they graduate high school. It stated that
they should do two years of community service. I disagree with the article for
many reasons.

Many people will agree with me about the community service matter. I
recently spoke to the counselor of my school about the subject of community
service. He said that most young people mainly think about going to college and
getting a job after they graduate; therefore, they would not have any extra time
to do community service. I also went to the police station and spoke to the
police chief about it. He said that community service should be considered more
as a punishment to prisoners, rather than a privilege to citizens. He said that
people should not do work that they do not get paid for, unless they really
wanted to. This is one of the reasons that supports my disagreement to the
article.

Most young people do not have enough extra time to do community service.
I have been doing a survey about the subject matter for a few days, and I have
come up with some interesting results. It seems that eight out of ten students
that are about to graduate high school are planning to go to college after they
graduate. I also asked them about doing community service. Most of them said
that they would be getting a job, and they would not have time to do community
service. My survey has brought me to the conclusion that students who are
thinking about going to college should not be thinking about doing two years of
community service.

Community service is detrimental to college students. I was talking on
the phone with my cousin, Waldo, who lives in Rhode Island. We got to talking
about the community service subject. He told me that there is a law in
Providence that when a person graduates from high school, he is required to do
one year of community service. Waldo said that he had gone through the
community service for the required year. He said that it took a huge amount of
time out of his regular activities. He had the choice to either drop out of
college or quit his job. He could not quit his job because he had to have money
to get by on. He ended up having to drop out of college and work two jobs for
the pay of one. Hearing that greatly discouraged me from doing community
service.

In conclusion, I disagree with the idea that high school graduates
should do two years of community service after graduating. I have other things
to think about, like going to college and getting a job.