Volunteering Must Be Freewill Choice!

As readers may have seen from my postings on NJ.Com Woodbridge Forum, Facebook and two of my earlier posts on my PATCH blog, I am opposed to high school students being mandated to perform community service as part of their requirement to obtain their high school diploma.

After writing to to the Home News Tribune and the Star-Ledger, Mr. Jay Jefferson Cooke, Assistant Editor/Print for the Courier News and the Home News Tribune took my writing to heart and wrote his own views on the matter.  In fact, the credit  for the title of this post belongs to Mr. Cooke. For those wishing to read the insightful and pithy words of Mr. Cooke on this matter, please go to:http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20131027/NJCOLUMNIST11/310270063/COLOR-BLACK-WHITE-Volunteeri...

There was somepush back to Mr. Cooke article by one reader from Warren. Those interested in reading what that reader had to say should checkout Jay's column at www.mycentraljersey.com

Mr. Cooke's opinion on making school students "volunteer" in Woodbridge Township school system, or anywhere else for that matter, provides a strong condemnation of the 'volunteer or no diploma' mandate.   Taking that point a step further, I assert the mandate is little more than a misguided (even if well intentioned) effort on the part of the school board to re-instituting indentured servitude ! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servant)

It is hoped parents and students alike, especially the students, will pushback on this mandate and force the school district to either rescind or modify the policy.

Yes, schools should teach students about the benefits of "volunteerism", but compelling them to volunteer diminishes, if not defeats, the very essence of what volunteering brings to a person's life!  America wasn't always a free society, but we now celebrate the fact that we are; let neither man nor institution change that reality!