Why should high school students complete community service hours to graduate? When students begin their school career, they think about graduation and their future. People should not be forced to rake leaves for the elderly or serve food at their local retirement home on their way to college. Getting good grades is hard enough these days, but trying to earn a certain number of community service hours makes high school even more challenging. Helping the community is great; however, during school hours, community service may cause students to miss class work, tests, etc. In recent years, youth participation in volunteering for community service has varied, resulting in an increasing number of high schools establishing this requirement of having fixed schedules in order to graduate. This increase was particularly observed in the early 1980s and late 1990s because rates among youth aged 16 to 19 rose from 13.4% to 24.5% in the year 1989. There have been varying reactions to the shift in mandatory participation in community service, from retaliatory lawsuits, to a desire to give back, which begs the question: How has this requirement changed since the 1990s and how has it affected people? long-term outcomes for citizens? Since the 1990s, there has been an even greater push for community service thanks to federal encouragements, thus engaging more students in the community and creating civic-minded individuals. In most states and school districts, there are requirements for community services in their schools. But what do the students' parents think? When creating these requirements, do schools ask parents for their views? While these protocols are in place, but… mid-paper… they would give students more time to worry about schoolwork and more time to focus on getting a diploma and going to college. Another solution would be to ask every high school student in every state to vote on whether or not to have this requirement. After students vote, each state's legislature and Senate count the votes, and whichever vote wins, that choice will be put into effect. Both of these solutions are great and I think this country should use them. Everyone in this world, including me, agrees that community service is probably one of the best things you can do today. On the other hand, everyone knows that feeling forced to do something is a horrible feeling, especially when trying to tell older teenagers what to do. Just remember that community service comes from someone's heart, not from someone else's forcing.