If parents are going to volunteer their time to their children’s schools, it should be required that parents volunteer their time to their children’s schools

The argument that all parents should be required to volunteer time to their children’s schools is flawed. Requiring parents to volunteer time to the schools would drive many to do so, but there are many reasons why volunteering is not a good idea. Schools are bureaucratic entities composed of large, complex organizations that lack transparency. As a result, parents can find themselves at a loss as to how their volunteer work is contributing to the school. Furthermore, parents may have personal reasons for not wanting to volunteer. Perhaps they cannot afford to take time away from their jobs or their hobbies, or they are concerned that their volunteer efforts will interfere with their parental duties. These concerns may mean that their volunteer efforts go unappreciated and unrecognized. Thus, parents should not be required to donate their time and energy to their children’s schools

Parents should also be required to volunteer to local charities, but to allow them to do so would also provide valuable information, as would requiring them to volunteer to their children’s schools. In 2009, a study measured the volunteer efforts of more than three thousand parents in thirty-two different cities. According to the study, parents were more likely to volunteer to charities that aligned with their personal ideologies. Parents who volunteered to charities that supported their political beliefs were more likely to donate their time to their children’s schools. Parents also donated more when the charities they volunteered to were near their homes. This suggests that parents would volunteer more to schools close to their homes if they were required to, and that schools would profit from this

Schools would also benefit from requiring parents to volunteer to the schools, as the volunteers would fill a myriad of jobs. If parents were forced to volunteer to their children’s schools, they would contribute their time to fundraisers, such as cake sales, rummage sales, or selling pins. These activities would help ease the school’s financial burden, as would the volunteers’ efforts. Furthermore, parents would assist teachers by preparing materials for the classroom and helping to maintain order. Finally, parents would assist the school’s administration by helping with tasks such as planning events and festivals. Thus, requiring parents to volunteer would be beneficial to schools, but imposing this requirement would not be helpful.