Mandatory Volunteering?

admin — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 21:28:05 +0000

Presentation is known for the volunteer work we do in the community. Each year, thousands of families would be left without necessary holiday items and would not be able to enjoy the festive season without our donations. Pres is lucky to have many generous girls and families on campus, making the drives successful.
What’s even more remarkable is that all this service has been done without any mandatory requirements. Unlike other Catholic high schools, Pres has never required its students to volunteer, instead espousing the idea that volunteering that comes from the heart will last a lifetime.
However, recently Presentation has begun to make it essentially mandatory to partake in the drives. Now, juniors are required to sign contracts promising to bring in bags and cans. The contracts say that students must bring in well over ten cans, spend an afternoon leafleting or picking up bags, and they must also donate during the other drives.
Right now, only the junior class is requiring girls to sign the contracts, but they mean business. The contract states that girls must bring in fifteen cans and spend at least one afternoon leafletting or picking up bags. It doesn’t take into account after-school practice, TA duties, jobs, or driving eligibility, and some girls have expressed fear that they will get in trouble if they are unable to leaflet.
Other classes are not planning on issuing contracts. According to class moderators Ms. Rosenthal and Ms. Colvin, the senior and freshman class have no plans to require participation in the drives. Also, the sophomore class is currently striving to have the girls donate without contracts; however, if the volunteer level is low, they may resort to them, said moderator Ms. Livingston.
So which is it, Pres? Do we have mandatory service hours or not?
Pres has always prided itself on not requiring students to do mandatory community service. Pres chooses to promote volunteer service because it is their goal to instill good moral values in the students. But now with the addition of contracts, it seems that service is obligatory rather than altruistic. We have always had a very giving student body, and the drives are always successful. But now, with the required service, students may feel that after they have fulfilled their contract, they have finished all of the volunteer work they ever need to do.
Presentation’s strong Catholic beliefs have pushed all Pres girls to see that there are people in our community who are less fortunate then we are. We are all aware of the hardships that homeless and poverty–stricken people endure, so there should be no reason why we wouldn’t choose to participate in these drives that represent such great causes. But now, students are feeling forced to participate in the so-called voluntary drives.
It is understandable that class moderators may feel that a contract is necessary because it is true that some girls do not participate while a few select students donate much more than others. Those few girls are the core of the drive. They spend all of their time around the drives and do everything they can to help. Without those few girls, the drives would be far less successful than they are now. However, while the contracts may scare more timid girls into helping, their threats of punishment will not change girls who are determined not to participate.
In fact, forcing students to participate brings on flashbacks to mag drive. Some of the same punishments are used in food drive as they are in mag drive–students are publicly reprimanded by not only homeroom teachers and reps, but also by the class officers. Negative reinforcement never works as well as positive feedback, so let’s hope that teachers and reps will remember that in this recession, most of us are doing the best we can, and use the contracts appropriately.
While the contracts may bring in more donations, what are they ultimately going to teach girls about giving from the heart? Some girls may choose to no longer volunteer later in life since they feel as though they were forced to early on. By keeping the drives voluntary, Pres can teach students to give because their help is needed. Not to mention the school can retain a favorite selling point: non-mandatory community service.

Mandatory Classes

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:04:10 +0000

As you were sitting down to bubble in your final scheduling form, what classes did you want? Shakespeare? World Religions? A free period? Were you forced to bypass these options because you need to fill yet another graduation requirement? Pres has a host of interesting class options available to its students, but there are so many required classes now that many will not get to enjoy them.

Pres has a diverse student body, and some girls are not Catholic or even religious at all. These girls recognize that part of going to a Catholic school is sitting through a religion class or two that they don’t agree with. Other schools in the diocese of San Jose like Archbishop Mitty and Notre Dame require their students to take these classes as well. There are some amusing religion classes out there, and it is not unreasonable for some religion to be mandatory. But because of our diverse student body, we should offer more classes like World Religions that focus on different aspects of spirituality and faith. Even though religion classes can be interesting given the right circumstances, there’s no denying the sometimes they can seem pointless. Religion classes do not count for college, which can hurt our GPAs. In the extremely competitive world we live in today, many girls find it frustrating to take classes that will not help us get into our first-choice school. . It is not reasonable for us to take excess classes when we have so much other work to do. For upperclassmen, only Ethics and Social Justice should be mandatory, leaving us two semesters to choose what we want to do.

Another glitch in our scheduling system is the mandatory extra semester of art or technology. Many girls who want free periods are unable to have them because they need that extra semester. Plus, while there are technology classes that cater to all types of interests such as Java and 3D Modeling, our current art electives focus primarily on visual and performing arts. Visual arts are an important part of making the world we live in a beautiful place, but some students are not as artistically inclined as others. And—let’s face it—many people are rhythmically and musically challenged. Electives for those students such as—dare I suggest it?—a home economics class that would teach us basic life skills could be a good idea. Even a simple cooking class for those who don’t have time for cooking club but would still like to learn could be offered. Another option would be to have a theatre technology class which would cover the basics of working behind-the-scenes in theatre productions. These classes would still allow us to be creative, and because only a year of art is mandatory for college would let students not interested in technology or traditional art to enjoy a relaxing extra semester.

On top of these already required classes, the English and Social Studies departments are adding yet more mandatory classes. American will be compulsory starting for girls in the class of 2013, and Economics will be mandatory starting for the class of 2014. Reading and learning about different time periods in our country is an important aspect of understanding how we live today. And without a basic understanding of our country’s economic system, we would be lost in the real world. These two classes are important, but in exchange a different requirement should be dropped. Any requirement would be acceptable: that darn extra semester of art, one of the extra two religion semesters, or even the extra semester of P.E. Also, only six semesters of Social Studies are required for colleges, but we are required to take seven. Extra classes make busy work and are hard to work in to our schedules. If just one of these requirements were dropped, it would leave sophomores and juniors with less stress when choosing their classes.

When our parents went to school, nobody chose their classes, and many public schools still do not give students the opportunities Pres gives to us. But Pres encourages us to become confident, strong-minded, and independent women. Part of being independent—and, in extension, responsible—is the right to choose. Fewer mandatory classes would give us more freedom and allow girls to be in classes they would find interesting and possibly even fun. Who knows—we might even start paying attention in class.

The Voice » Mandatory

Mandatory Volunteering?

Mandatory Classes