As the end of the third quarter comes closer, students may be considering what SSL opportunities they should take to complete their hours. Yet other students have no such consideration. Senior Terra Muffett has already completed 66 of the required 75 SSL hours and said, “All of them have been given to me by the school so far, for free.” If students can get this far without effort, perhaps it is time to ask: Are students getting too many “free” SSL hours?
The MCPS website states, “Quality service learning provides the student with knowledge, skills, attitudes, and career exploration opportunities that lead to effective citizenship in an increasingly diverse and interconnected world.” However, there are ways students can receive SSL hours without doing any community service, such as the 30 total hours given just for passing certain required classes in middle school, or the hours given for completing the mandatory Culture of Respect training. This does not promote “effective citizenship.” Sophomore Astrid Fishman, who has completed roughly 40 SSL hours, said, “A lot of people are most likely doing a little bit of work and banking on the free SSL hours to get them the rest of the way… For the effectiveness of the program, they are giving away too many free SSL hours.”
Students may have doubts about the SSL program for more reasons than just the number of free hours. Junior Maximilian Iano-Stockton said, “[The problem with] the effectiveness of the SSL program isn’t ‘there are easy ways to gain hours,’” but rather that “forcing people to do community service, when the community service can be almost anything, is a bit unhelpful.”
A similar sentiment was shared by Muffett, who said, “I think if there were more specific things that gave you [SSL hours], or if it was more about doing things outside of school then it is about helping within the school, then I think it would be more effective.”
There seems to be a general consensus on the SSL program among students. However, the opinion of SSL coordinator Christopher Thompson is different. Thompson said, “SSL has sort of two parts, the community service component and the advocacy component. Some classes you’re taking in middle school and high school have an advocacy component to it, [so] it might feel like you’re not doing anything to get those, but you are actually doing something related to the SSL program, which grants you those hours.”
Thompson also paints a different picture regarding the effectiveness of the program. Thompson said, “There are tens of thousands of hours done outside of classes. We have a lot of students who go well above even the 240 requirement,” referring to the number of SSL hours required in order to receive the Certificate of Meritorious Service award. The SSL program might be what will “spur some people on to actually volunteer more in their community.”
Thompson also brought up the number of students who go far above the required 75 SSL hours. Thompson said, “I would say it’s almost half, or close to half, of the graduating class that gets above 240 hours,” which is a sign that the program is working as designed and far from the pessimistic outlook shared by students. Social studies and staff development teacher Christina Rice, who handles graduation and the awards given out during it, corroborated this. Rice said that there are “probably a half dozen students who have over a thousand [hours], who the principal usually acknowledges and recognizes their efforts during the graduation ceremony.”
The data seems to show that the SSL program is serving its purpose; The voices of students seem to show that it is flawed at multiple levels and needs to be reworked. The answer to the question “Are students receiving too many free SSL hours?” is, like many things, a nuanced one. Would the program be more effective if students weren’t given so many hours in school? Quite possibly. Is the program creating countless good Samaritans in our community? Absolutely. The SSL program can be improved, but overall, it is doing just fine as it is.
