I’ve finished applying to college, I’ve gotten the bulk of my course requirements out of the way, and I’ve passed all my necessary tests. I’ve dropped the remainder of my difficult classes, and I’m pretty much ready to just cruise by until that sweet graduation day comes along. Like most of members of my class, my focus on getting good grades and mastering SAT words has subsided as I focus on healthier pursuits, like making plans for beach week.

Unfortunately, despite my four years of anguished effort to ensure that I leave this school with a diploma, I still have not fulfilled all my graduation requirements. A recent letter from our ever-friendly guidance office informed me that in addition to that last English credit, I have yet to acquire those all-important Student Service Learning Hours: the state-mandated program that stipulates students, to somehow contribute to their education, must work 60 hours for the community.

As of this semester, I have only earned 30 hours, the amount granted upon completion of middle school, although I find myself hard-pressed to think of anything I did in middle school that was of any service to the community.

My lack of hours is really not a result of laziness or any cynicism that prevents me from seeing the value of working to help people. It comes from the fact that the whole system is disingenuous.

Working to help the community out of authentic concern is a worthy and admirable passion, something that comes from an internal motivation. Forcing students to falsely act when they do not have such a drive is an aberration to something that is purely benevolent. Forced volunteerism is an oxymoronic institution.

When a student donates blood at the school’s blood drive, it is an honorable and self-motivated action. While most people would undisputedly consider this a generous and honorable act, the school cannot ethically force students to participate. Why, then, can the school mandate another ideally selfless activity like volunteering in the community?

When it comes down to it, there is really only one reason we seniors have to complete our hours: to graduate. While graduation, the zenith of our high school careers, may validate our teachers’ efforts and fill our parents with pride, it remains a fundamentally selfish motivation; we are the ones who benefit the most. Something like SSL hours, which should come from a selfless motivation, simply do not have a place with other graduation requirements.

The MCPS website claims that “service learning addresses recognized community needs and is connected to curriculum goals.” And yes, perhaps volunteering at the old folk’s home or the animal hospital will fill a community need and maybe even teach me something about this crazy work-a-day world. But the fact that I am forced to donate my time out of completely selfish reasons is a flagrant mockery of the admirable essence of volunteerism.