Mandated Community Involvement: A Question of Equity

Based on the assumption that all young people and their communities would benefit from students' active participation in community endeavours, some Canadian provinces and US states have included community involvement activities graduation requirement. Debates continue over whether students should be "forced" to volunteer. Ontario's 40-hour community involvement requirement is an interesting case study because of the level of autonomy it affords to students, who are free to choose how they will complete their community involvement hours. By contrast, most U.S. programs use a "service-learning" model, which focuses on furthering students' understanding of social problems through community-based and classroom learning opportunities. A study involving 50 current and recently graduated Ontario secondary school students from widely divergent socio-economic settings found that, while students may donate equal amounts time, they do not have equal access to meaningful community involvement placements. Socio-economic status influences the time, resources and social networks available to students, and therefore the types of community involvement open to them. (Contains 8 endnotes)