Service-learning is the name used to force students to volunteer as part of their college career. The hope is that this volunteer work will give students a greater sense of civic duty and thus be a valuable addition to college curricula. However, this idea is based on the flawed premise that if a person is forced to volunteer, they will reap the same benefits as someone who does so out of their own desire to help. Mandatory service learning will not have the desired effect and should not be imposed on students. It is perhaps intuitive to think that by requiring students to help others there will be a net positive; there could be no harm in putting in the time and effort to help the community. However, closer inspection reveals that there are many negative aspects and any positive effects are just wishful thinking. To begin with, service learning would not benefit the education of students. Indeed, many students would be unable to volunteer in their field. This refutes any argument that service learning would help students' education. Although there may be specific cases where a student with a practical major could benefit from their volunteer efforts, this would simply be a positive indirect effect. Additionally, in many cases, these students are already volunteering their time in the form of unpaid internships. If schools want students to volunteer in this way, they should work with charities to establish more volunteer placements. However, once students are forced to volunteer for the sake of volunteering, it is no longer about helping them. We must ask ourselves: why are it exclusively schools that would take on this forced voluntary work? If it was really a necessary benefit to s...... middle of paper......the community. The only justification for students to do the work themselves is a sense of civic duty. Unfortunately, by forcing students to do the work, any positive sense of civic duty will be outweighed by the negative emotions of being forced. A better way to gain the desired sense of civic duty is through additional training that addresses the problems and their causes. Ultimately, the idea of ​​mandatory service-learning doesn't make sense. Works Cited: Bringle, Robet G. and Julie A. Hatcher. “Implementing Service-Learning in Higher Education” (excerpt). Journal of Higher Education 67.2 (1996): 221-223. Print.Caret, Robert L. “Local Students Serve While They Learn.” Examiner.com. The examiner. September 20, 2007. the web. September 9, 2008. Egger, John B. “Learning” service Reduced learning. » Examiner.com. The Examiner, October 2, 2007. Web. September 9. 2008.