Some people think that all teenagers should be required to do unpaid work in their free time to help the local community. They believe this would benefit both the individual teenager and society as a whole. Do you agree or disagree?
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Today, there are still many high school students whose world consists only of homework, books and exams. Unlike others, they have not been introduced to the world of volunteer work where tons of benefits are waiting for them. My stance on the issue is that all school students should be encouraged or even required to participate in a wide range of unpaid or volunteer programs for the benefits of themselves and the whole society as well.

To start with, volunteering gives teenage students an opportunity to meet people that they might not encounter otherwise and to build or expand their social networks beyond their small school circles. For example, they are likely to help senior citizens with cleaning, washing and shopping, or they may have a chance to work with adult workers in a non-profit organization and therefore learn a lot of work skills and interpersonal skills. These experiences tend to bring like-minded people together and help to forge life-long friendships among volunteer groups.

In addition, volunteering is a really wonderful growth experience for teenagers who find it necessary to connect theory with practice. Apart from the opportunity to apply what they have learned at school to their volunteer jobs, they are often taught new skills and exposed to a totally new environment where learning on their own is required. This kind of personal growth looks fantastic on their college applications and makes many of them qualified for scholarships or other financial aids.

On the other hand, the community or society they live in also benefits enormously from the contributions they make through various volunteer programs. In one program, for instance, a team of teenagers are organized to assemble donations (mostly food, clothes and household appliances) from their communities and to distribute them to remote mountain villages, disaster areas and war zones. They won a national award for their community service because it helped countless people improve their chances of survival and it saved the local government thousands of dollars.

To sum up, I believe that teenagers should be made aware of the benefits of volunteering and be motivated to take part in activities that can truly change the world and change themselves into better and more useful citizens.