Volunteerism

I am trying to decide how I feel about mandated volunteerism for high school. Many schools, including the one my children go to, require you to perform so many community service hours prior to graduation. Tis the season to make sure those are completed, my friends son has been directing traffic at 5K's, cleaning up and doing other items as fast as he can now in order to graduate.

So I visited dictionary.com the first definition of volunteer: a person who voluntarily offers himself or herself for a service or undertaking. This doesn't appear to apply to this mandated form of public service. For the students must do this or they do not receive their diploma.

Definition #2. a person who performs a service willingly and without pay. Ok, maybe, they are performing without pay, but willingly? Not sure.

For the most part the students don't appear upset about the requirement and overall I think it is extremely beneficial for them and society to be a part of something that benefits someone else. I just think we need to change the name:)