Collective Action

Both Lipman and McAdam argue that volunteerism fails to promote collective action. High school students are required to obtain a certain number of hours in community service, but these hours are largely obtained individually. Students are encouraged to report these hours on their college applications in order to 'beat out' other applicants. This does not create a healthy environment for a citizenry that should be founded on collective action. If school requirements for volunteerism threatens this 'collaborative community', one would think that associations such as TFA, which are purely voluntary, would produce a group of citizens that are engaged in other service projects. Students in TFA have joined an organization that is collectively trying to improve the education of students in less privileged schools.

McAdams finds that graduates of TFA are less likely to engage in 'pro-social' employment and civic activities. They are also less likely to give to charitable organizations or to vote, than non participants of TFA. The study fails to comment on how the views of TFA participants change after their experience. Though it would be very hard to measure, it would be interesting to see whether these students think more about the common good of the people when voting on policy issues. Do their views reflect the interests of more people after participating in TFA? If volunteering makes individuals more conscious of the needs of people who come from different social classes, racial backgrounds...etc., then it is a success for a democratic government. Perhaps TFA graduates are better citizens than those that did not participate, but they exert their civic power in methods not measured by the study. It is possible that these graduates are more likely to engage in deliberative rhetoric or be more proactive in getting other citizens involved in like minded service activities. It is possible that by measuring 'civic engagement' by a set number of activities, we fail to see the positive benefit that TFA has on creating engaged citizens.

Although requiring students to meet a certain number of volunteering hours is counterproductive in promoting a collective community, I believe that initiatives from the government are very encouraging of this collective community. For example, Obama launched 'Renew America Together' which not only promotes volunteerism, but stresses the importance of collective activity. This initiative promotes the idea that the problems we face are problems of all Americans.