Community Service Requirement

<-NARRATOR:-> Now listen to two students discussing the letter.
<-FEMALE STUDENT:-> So what do you think of that letter?
<-MALE STUDENT:-> Well, it might sound like a good idea, but I really don’t think it’s gonna have any of the benefits that the letter writer says it will.
<-FEMALE STUDENT:-> So you don’t agree with it.
<-MALE STUDENT:-> Nope. If anything, it’s gonna hurt our relationship with the town.
I mean forcing students to volunteer, it’s gonna make them see it as a chore, a nuisance,
and so they’re not gonna put their hearts into it, which is gonna make the university look bad.
<-FEMALE STUDENT:-> You’re saying that students doing volunteer work in town will be unenthusiastic and...
<-MALE STUDENT:-> Right. It’ll be obvious they don’t want to be there.
That’s sure not going to make things better, you know, in terms of how we’re regarded by people in the local community.
<-FEMALE STUDENT:-> But maybe students would learn to like it…<-MALE STUDENT:-> I really doubt it.
The whole idea that this is gonna encourage students to do more volunteering in the future is just ridiculous.
A lot of students are likely to come away from the experience with negative feelings about it.
<-FEMALE STUDENT:-> Yeah, especially if their studies suffer from being forced to spend time away from them.
<-MALE STUDENT:-> All the students I know already complain about not having enough time as it is.
So this extra work is going to be a bad experience--hardly inspiration for them to pursue more volunteer work after they graduate.