HIGH LIFE / A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : Community Service Rule Proposed
Valencia High School teacher Wendell Bainter recently proposed that the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District include community service in its social studies curriculum and make it a graduation requirement.
“Community service is a stated component of the curriculum, but we give only lip service to it,” said Bainter, a social studies teacher. “I don’t know how you get all the students to experience community service without making it mandatory.”
As part of his U.S. government class, Bainter offers students extra credit for attending City Council and school board meetings, as well as witnessing municipal court trials and participating in political campaigns and attending debates. About one-third of his students do so.
The school board has taken no action on the proposal, though administrators voiced concerns about whether such a schoolwide program could be successful.
In September, Laguna Beach Unified School District became the first district in Orange County to require high school students to perform community service to graduate. By the 1995-96 school years, seniors will be required to perform a total of 40 hours of service over their high school years in order to graduate.
--DANIELLE A. FOUQUETTE
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The Veterans of Foreign Wars is offering high school students an opportunity to win an all-expense-paid, five-day trip to Washington, plus a chance to compete for scholarships totaling $78,500 through its Voice of Democracy program.
Participants, in grades 10 through 12, write and then tape record a three- to five-minute broadcast script expressing their views on “My Voice in America’s Future.” The national winner will receive the free trip to Washington and a $20,000 scholarship. Twenty-three other scholarships will be awarded, from $1,000 to $15,000.
Interested students should contact their high school or local VFW post for details and deadlines.
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“Ninety percent of the politicians give the other 10% a bad reputation.”
--Henry Kissinger
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