I ask because I'm in total disbelief that our publicly funded school system would send children to a privately owned golf course to perform their spring cleaning as part of a community service project (see Picking Up Sticks Photo and Caption, March 29, Times-Union). How does cleaning up a facility that charges patrons fees to use their facility and, in turn, pays maintenance personnel, qualify as community service? In addition, I would venture to guess that a very small percentage of the total community actually uses the course. How does that constitute community service?
I believe Rozella acquired and utilized some very cheap child labor that day. Who came up with this idea? If it was an adult, they either knew what they were doing was wrong, or they need an education on the definition of community service. If the idea originated with the children, they should have been taught the true and real meaning of community service.
I did my own research on the true definition of community service and have listed them for you, the community, below. Pick which one covers the Rozella incident, keeping in mind how much of the total community uses the facility for free. The first definition might fit if you then explain to the students how the owner (recipient) did not have to pay his personnel to clean up for the amount of time they covered (the benefit and/or difference made).
The engagement of students in activities that primarily focus on the service being provided as well as the benefits the service activities have on the recipients. The students receive some benefits by learning more about how their service makes a difference in the lives of the service recipients.
www.sfsu.edu/~ocsl/definitions.html
Within the context of the National Community Service Trust Act, "encompasses any human act serving the common good; in the interest of the community."
www.vaservice.org/training/glossary.html
A service that is performed for the benefit of the public or its institutions.
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Community service refers to service that a person performs for the benefit of his or her local community. Community service can refer to projects that members of certain youth organizations (such as the Boy Scouts) and some high school students perform.
