By Jen Hill

Should high school students have to do volunteer work to graduate? The Ontario government thinks so. Starting with September 1999's grade nine class, all Ontario students will have to volunteer for 40 hours before they finish high school. According to a March 1998 government press release "Through community involvement students can experience first hand how everyone can make a contribution to their community." In theory, both the student and the community will benefit. In reality, the pilot projects already in schools are showing surprising results.

At Applewood Heights Secondary School in Mississauga, all grade 11 students have been taking a community service course since September. It consists of a work and life skills class and 55 hours of out-of-school volunteer work. Counsellor Janet Coutts says "The students were initially reluctant (to take the course) but were surprised by how much they enjoyed the placement and benefited from it." Student Cheryl Low likes the course because "a lot of people wouldn't have chosen (to volunteer) on their own - I wouldn't have chosen it." Now she thinks the experience is definitely worth it and says she'll continue volunteering. However, she says time-wise it is hard because she's already busy. "You just have to learn to balance it all".

Cheryl admits that some of her classmates haven't had such a good experience. "They've moved from place to place and haven't found anything they like." Shereen Denatto, the Volunteer Coordinator at the Square One Youth Centre isn't surprised. She sees a lot of prospective volunteers and says, "It's obvious which youth are only volunteering because they're forced to and (with such a negative attitude) they won't get good placements." Shereen feels the schools should do more to help their students find and maintain their volunteer placements, even if it means "setting up opportunities in the community beforehand".

Volunteer agencies near the pilot schools get so many prospective volunteers that they are feeling overwhelmed. With the recent funding cutbacks, most agencies' budgets and resources are more limited than ever. In order for a program like this to be a success, Suzanne Christie of the Volunteer Centre of Peel says "resources and dollars have to go towards preparing the community." A successful volunteer program, she continues "Doesn't come by accident and doesn't come for free." The best solution, according to Shereen Denatto, would be an optional program that is strongly supported by the school. Incentives like extra credits and school time for community work and workshops on the benefits of volunteering could encourage the majority of students to participate while those who are very against it could opt out. This would have the added benefit of allowing students to participate at any time during high school, so they could pick the time it works best for them. By choosing to participate, students would be more positive about the program, benefit more and feel good about a choice they made. Suzanne Christie sums it up, "Trying to get young people involved in volunteering is good. Imposing 40 hours of mandatory work is not by definition volunteering."

See how volunteering benefits you! Find your perfect volunteer job Go to TG's volunteering web site

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© 1998 le magazine TG / La Commission des étudiants

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