Community service clubs are everywhere around campus and offer students an opportunity to volunteer their time for various charitable causes in the community. At least, that is the idea.

The reality is that many students see volunteer hours as a chore or as a way to look good for colleges. Students fake hours and find easy work to avoid giving away hours and hours of their time. Service hour forms require signatures and contact information which makes everything seem on the up and up but hours are rarely actually verified or contacts are called at random. There is also nothing stopping students from finding adults willing to exaggerate service hours or act as a fake contact.

Even if organizations could make sure students were not faking hours, it is impossible to make sure students are doing charitable acts with charitable intentions. Many students see mandated hours as homework, as it is a requirement for some extracurricular activities. Mandatory volunteer work may seem like a bit of a contradiction, but it honestly does not matter.

Even though students may just be doing homework in their minds, they are still actively contributing to the community. Chore or not, helping Feed My Starving Children or contributing to Sparrow Club is still a good act.

The other reason students may do volunteer work outside of genuine willingness to help others is that it looks good on college applications. Getting involved in the National Honors Society or other programs is a way for students to stand out in a crowd and earn scholarships. This does not take away from the service itself, even if a student may simply be helping others to get into their dream school or win a scholarship. If a student is doing good, there is nothing wrong with a little good coming back around to them.

Service is service, whether done selfishly or selflessly, and schools have not found another way to get students involved, so it is better than nothing.

Service requirements are also a legitimate test of character for students applying to clubs and keep organizations like NHS from getting even more crowded. A student may be doing service just to get into clubs but they are still willing to give away hours upon hours of their time to keep their membership or get cords.

Access to clubs and an advantage on college applications are rewards for community members who put in the work. This may make service hours selfish but it means more service gets done. At the end of the day, it does not matter if a volunteer is really picking up litter out of the kindness of their own heart as long as the streets stay clean.