March 1, 2011

Dear Principal,

So, I hear you are thinking of making all children perform community service. I suppose in a perfect world we wouldn't need community service. No children to tutor, no litter to clean up. However, our world is not perfect, and it seems that community service is in fact necessary. I believe that, for the sake of the community, children should be required to perform community service. Allow me to present my argument.

Let me begin by saying that I do not disagree with those who dislike community service. I dislike it as well. It is a waste of time, and if I had it my way I would not require children to perform community service. However, do you not agree that at least some work is required, at least on the community's behalf? Children do need tutoring, and there is always litter to be cleaned up. We need community service just as much as we need the community. So while I do suggest that you implement mandatory community service, let me request one thing. Do not simply ask children to go out of their way to perform community service, for they will not do it out of the goodness of their hearts. You must either force them to do it, or give them some incentive. Personally, I'd prefer the latter.

In the real world, where I come from, we are actually forced to do community service (Can you believe it?) or else we cannot graduate high school. But in this imaginary world where you live, it looks like you're in charge. I believe you should give children a reason to do community service, like a reward for every few hours of work they do. If this were to happen, a lot more service would get done. Who knows, maybe that perfect world isn't so far away after all.

In conclusion, community service should be mandatory, for the community's sake, but if it were possible to reward children for service they do themselves, that would certainly be a preferable method. I believe that if that were to happen, much more service would get done, and the community would be a smarter, cleaner, happier, better place.

Sincerely,

STUDENT_NAME