“Free
will is an integral part of being human,” meaning free will is one aspect of
human nature that no one can control even if they tried. Sometimes adults demand control over free
will to protect the children, but only resistance or rebellion erupt. Parents
and school officials have certain requirements they expect for students to
succeed, but the more adults pull, students will push back harder. One example
is that high school students are required to complete service hours to
graduate. Students should be able to do community service by their own choice,
not because it is a requirement. Most students are encouraged to attend
school functions and afterschool activities by friends and family.
Unfortunately, students do not have enough time to do everything they are
interested in, including doing school work or service requirement.
Students
do not have enough time to participate in community service. There are only
twenty-four hours in a day. An average high school student spends his or her
day like this: 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. are spent “sleeping”, 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. is
where the student wake up and get dress for school, 7 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. the
student drives to school, 7 30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. are classes and lunch, and at
2:45 the school day ends. This leaves eleven and a half hours and twenty-five
minutes for a student to work on homework or spent doing extracurricular
activities like sports or clubs. During the weekend, teenagers may be busy with
family issues, working for money, or spending their day relaxing with or
without friends. Life can be unpredictable and one may never know what will happen
next. It is really hard for high school students to fit anything into their
busy schedule, for instance additional graduation requirement such as community
service project.
Students are required to complete
community service out of the goodness of their hearts and that “goodness”
should not be counted as credit. Why are students forced to do service projects
when it is the Christian way of doing good deeds without anything in return? If
someone does a good deed for the wrong purpose; it would causes great
unhappiness. Neuroscientist B.J. Casey said “The last thing you want to tell
your teenager is what to be interested in because then they will go as far from
it as possible.” Forcing teens to complete service project may cause them to
resent or turn away from doing any good work.
There are so many opportunities out
in the world that it is hard to find the right niche. Children participating
activities to help them find a place in the society that feel right; they just
hate being told to do it. It is normal for teenagers to question authority
because it helps a teen develop a sense of identity. “The value of identity is
that so often with it comes purpose,” said Richard R. Grants. Psychology also
state that adolescence who resolve their identity crisis will come out ready
with a strong sense of purpose.
A student’s choice to volunteer for
community service is as individual as he or she choosing his or her destiny in
life. Teens demand freedom and independences from families and teachers’
expectations to live their own lives. In the USA, the citizens have freedom of
speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and other freedoms
guaranteed in the Bill of Rights; yet, students at this school do not have the
freedom to choose to participate in community service. The freedom to choose is
important for a person, child or not, to help find him or herself. High school
students choose what clubs activities to do, when to do homework, and what
college to go. With all that on their schedule, adding another graduation
requirement such as community service only adds pressure and invites resistance
from those students.
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