It is suggested that all the young adults should undertake a period of unpaid work helping people in the community. Does it bring more benefits or drawbacks to the community and the young people?

In modern societies, it is increasingly popular that young people volunteer on weekends in the local community service center to help the people in need. If all the youngsters do it in a regular way, the benefits are obvious to both the community and these young adults although there are some minor drawbacks as well.

It can be argued that the advantages of doing unpaid community service are enormous. Indeed, when an old person feels sick, the volunteers could offer first aid before the doctor or the ambulance arrives. Likewise, if a disabled person has difficulty doing some daily activities such as shopping, the assistance from young volunteers is indispensable. Moreover, as far as the young people are concerned, they could develop the sense of responsibility, independence as well as interpersonal skills in the process of helping others in the neighborhood. In this way, people may live in harmony in the community.

Nevertheless, the downsides of volunteer community service are worth mentioning. In fact, in the city likeShanghai, an increasing number of graduates find it harder to make a living on their own. Thus, if all of the young adults are required to do full-time unpaid job in a fixed period, some of them would have no income source, which is unrealistic to these youngsters. In addition, it is believed that community service could possibly take up their time of acquiring knowledge.

Therefore, compared with the merits of volunteer community service offered by the young adults, the demerits of that are just a few but cannot be overlooked.