Keeping Track

Three years ago, a group of Pingree faculty members convened to review our Community Service program so that it would better serve our students, faculty, and mission. 

One of the major shifts made by this committee was to phase out our 50-hour community service graduation requirement. This decision is in keeping with best practices of Service-Learning and Civic Engagement, and puts us in the company of many other independent schools. Studies tell us that requiring community service hours in high school does not in fact deepen a student’s commitment to the “civic good”, nor is it a reliable predictor of civic participation as adults. Additionally, many organizations that host student volunteers experience tension surrounding mandatory hours, as these hours do not guarantee commitment, completion or a meaningful experience for either the volunteer or the agency. 

However, those same studies tell us that high school students who engage in service activities are more likely to volunteer into adulthood, and that volunteering during their adolescence may provide our students with the skills and networks they will need as adults in order to act upon civic concerns.

Our program shift was guided by our desire to create a culture of service at Pingree, rather than a requirement. This means that we have worked (and will continue to work) to embed service opportunities into our academic, art, and athletic programs. Parents, students and faculty members have been largely enthusiastic about this switch, but a question remains: Should we find some way of keeping track? My answer to this is yes... and no. 

When I took on the role of Director of Civic Engagement and Service Learning, a colleague of mine mentioned that while she was wholeheartedly in agreement with the elimination of required hours, it would still be beneficial to everyone involved if, during the college application program, we could account for a student's service commitments over their years at Pingree. Therefore, I maintain records of who participates in which Pingree-sponsored service activity and in what capacity (leader, school ambassador, volunteer, etc.). Thus, when a student begins the college process, students will have at their disposal a list of those activities in which they participated, along with a brief narrative about the activity.

The “no” part of this response gets at what we mean when we say “culture of service.” Service activities can – and should – be complex, frustrating, exhilarating, boring, life-changing, perplexing, and wonderful, and if our goal in service is to introduce our students to a world where all of those emotions can, and will, be felt at once then no hourly requirement can come close to serving that purpose, nor can counting hours keep track of the meaning we make from our service experiences. Additionally, by requiring service are we in fact negating the role that altruism plays altogether? If the focus of students’ participation in service becomes to accumulate hours, then we are not truly asking them to step outside of themselves in the service of others. What truly counts is what we learn when we serve, and ultimately how we treat each other.

As always, I welcome your feedback, thoughts and questions.

Sources:

Hart, Daniel, Thomas M. Donnelly, James Youniss, and Robert Atkins. “High School Community Service as a Predictor of Adult Voting and Volunteering.” American Education Research Journal 44:1 (2007): 197-219.

Mills, Steven D. “The Four Furies: Primary Tensions between Service-Learners and Host Agencies”. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning (Fall 2012): 33-43.