There is a suggestion that all young adults should be required to participate in unpaid work to

assist people in the community.

Do the drawbacks of this requirement outweigh the benefits of both the community and the
individual young adults?

More individuals are willing to get involved in unpaid community service nowadays, including
helping the older generation using electronic devices, providing online courses for children in
poverty, or planting trees in public gardens. Although it is beneficial to encourage voluntary work,
many go to the extreme by proposing that it should be compulsory for all young adults. However,
I believe forcibly asking all young individuals to participate in unpaid social work cannot
contribute to personal improvement and the local community, and can cause some problems.

On the surface, it is understandable why some have argued that voluntary work should be a
requirement. By sending all social members to put an effort into the local community, they
acquire personal benefits such as interpersonal skills when shopping with senior citizens, a sense
of fulfillment when helping poor students with their studying, or a better understanding of how
difficult to earn money when helping poor people planning their financial budget. At a social
level, the whole community can also benefit from more individuals devoting themselves to this
endeavor. In places with thorough voluntary programs, many older citizens are being helped by
volunteers with how to use electronic devices, and they have reported their increased confidence
in using cellphones and computers to keep in touch with their grandchildren. School teachers are
also happy to see easier class management and increased study passion as more young people
pay a visit to school and share some intriguing personal stories about the importance of study
and how it paves the way for future success.

However, I would argue that this policy could result in more problems than advantages. Indeed,
those positives mentioned in the last paragraph can be gained through voluntary work, however
it does not need to include everyone. Some individuals may have already taken part in various
types of unpaid service before their adulthood in school-conducted activities such as tree
planting or street cleaning. Forcing them to attend such activities after graduation again and
again may put them off from doing it in the future because they would feel it is not voluntary
anymore and even develop resentment towards it. From the social perspective, more than the
necessary number of social workers can actually cause undesired outcomes. To name some,
volunteer work is mostly done by unskilled volunteers as they have to make room for others after
working for a while; social productivity also suffers because employees have to leave their work
from time to time. Most importantly, making volunteer work mandatory violates the core value
of unpaid community service, which is to encourage individuals to contribute out of a good heart,
rather than out of having to meet requirements.

To sum up, the policy of requiring all young citizens to do volunteer work is unethical, and its cons
outweigh its pros.