It’s never a bad thing to help other people. Help is good. Community service is good. Who could argue with that? Requiring high school students to do 60 hours of community service is beneficial to the community and to the student, and is no different than a math or foreign language requirement.

So, why all the fuss? Many believe that community service is a waste of time—that helping children is a waste of time, that cleaning up the environment is a waste of time, that aiding the poor is a waste of time. I’m here to tell you it’s not.

High schools want to mold their students into well-rounded adults. Adults who not only know math, English, and science, but who also know what it means to help and give back to the community. When students are forced to do community service now, it sets a standard for the rest of their lives. When community service starts in high school, and then continues into college, people will be more inclined to assist the community later on in life.

Also, for those that don’t identify themselves as a brainiac or a super athlete, community service may be their niche. It’s a way to get people to respect them and to feel a sense of value and accomplishment.

Community service can be fun, and 60 hours isn’t too much to ask for, considering most people get 30 hours for completing middle school. The rest of the hours can be earned easily; there are endless possibilities of ways to give back to the community.

Requiring community service hours is a way to make sure that in order to graduate high school, students have to do something. We don’t want to graduate kids whose after school schedules consist of changing into bathrobes and eating bonbons in front of Dr. Phil. We want people who go out and make things happen.

When seniors walk across that stage on graduation day, they will know that Blake did everything it could to make them the best person they could be, and that includes completing those 60 hours of community service.