Mandating Volunteerism

Here is a letter to the editor that I plan to have published in our local newspaper.  Apparently, a state senator from Cumberland County (the Fayetteville, NC area) introduced a bill during this session of the NC General Assembly to mandate that all UNC students mentor or tutor a school-aged child for 20 hours per semester as a requirement for a degree.  What about mandating volunteerism, sounds voluntary to you?

Mandating volunteerism: An oxymoron

            I wholeheartedly agree with your editorial opposing the bill proposed by Sen. Tony Rand (D-Cumberland) mandating that all University of North Carolina students mentor or tutor a child in government school in order to receive a Bachelor’s degree.

            As a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, I have personally experienced the difficulties of balancing classroom life with a personal life.  I took only full loads of classes, between 13 and 17 hours, each semester while producing, shooting, and reporting for our student television newscast as well as serving as a peer educator for our own students.  With all of that going on, where in the world would I have found the time to mentor a child in government school as well?  What about students that are taking 21 hours of classes a semester?  Where would they find the time to complete this requirement?  And what about the mandate applying to non-traditional students (of which make up a large proportion of the UNC-Pembroke student body)?  How would they balance work and school with their own family time in order to complete this requirement?  Why can’t legislators start treating UNC students like the adults that they are?  And if this bill passes, it could evolve into a slippery slope with other mandates, such as an exit exam to obtain a degree.

            I am of the belief that volunteerism should be just that: voluntary.  With the mandate that all students mentor school-age children, some of which have no business mentoring children at all, takes that choice out of the hands of free, independent adults and puts an unreasonable burden between students to obtain their degrees, contrary to the North Carolina Constitution.  But hey, the lawmakers will disregard the rule of law just to get the power they want over all of us.  I urge the Alamance County legislative delegation to strongly oppose this bill.

I am sure that some of them would strongly object to being told what else they would have to do in order to obtain a degree.

Working on the newscast and being a peer educator alone was a five day a week job that took many hours.  Throw in classes with reading and papers, and that leaves little time for anything else.