Many have come to the conclusion that teenagers havecreated their own slothful, selfish, and spoiled society that is destined todestroy the future of America. To combat these treacherous teenagers' frightfulfuture, people are demanding that teenagers help others. This method of savingthe world from the horrible ways of Generation X, however, is serving nopurpose.

School districts throughout America now make service hours agraduation requirement. Courts use community service as an alternative to prisonor fines. Many clubs and organizations require students to complete service hoursfor membership. Sadly, teens end up completing these required hours forthemselves instead of others.

What is the purpose of required communityservice when the volunteer is completing the time only for his or her ownbenefit? These service hours help others, but when the volunteer has an "I'mdoing this because I have to" attitude, he or she gains nothing from theexperience. Adults force service hours on teens to make them more aware of howblessed they are, but without the proper attitude, the volunteer learns nothing.Any teen of any nationality of any generation will not have a good attitude whenforced to do something.

Aside from being pointless, forced volunteerismdoes not benefit the community as much as a successful teenager who is preparinghimself/herself for adulthood. Teenagers can serve the community without loggingservice hours and spending valuable time in an unpleasant setting. Teenagers whoearn good grades serve their community by readying themselves for a future ofindependence.

Teens who hold jobs are also benefiting the communitywithout wasting their time in a place where they do not want to be. Like theteenager who earns good grades, the teenager who maintains a part-time job isserving a community by preparing for the future. The working teenager is alsopaying taxes. Look at it this way: at the young age of 14, a working teenager isessentially, with their tax dollars, purchasing food and prescriptions for peoplewho cannot afford it. Is this not service enough?

As the world spiralsdeeper into war, the question is not whether or not service is needed. Thequestion is: Can society view responsibility as service? If adults truly believethat "it's not where you serve, but how you serve," they will stopputting such an oxymoron as "forced volunteerism" into the alreadyheavy back packs that teenagers carry.