I know many of you are worrying about the CAS component of your IB diploma. I know it seems that more and more responsibilities are being heaped on your plate. Between homework, jobs and sports; when is there any more time to give? It is believed that performing community service and helping others helps build character and makes you a better person. Do you agree with this? Do you think giving time and helping those in need builds character? If you are helping people because you have to and not because you want to generates the same effects? What do you hope to get out of the CAS portion of your IB experience?
Helping others always makes one feel good inside. You always cherish what you have when you participate in events that help others. If it is to help the environment you realize how important it is to keep your environment CLEAN! So I think CAS should not be a burden
ReplyDelete“Many small people, in many small places, do many small things, that can alter the face of the world.”
I do think that community service builds character if you're doing it for the right reasons. You learn to appreciate what you have and the hard work that goes into many of those things. If you're doing community service and helping others because you want to, there's much more to gain from the experience than if you're forced to do it.
ReplyDelete-Lindsey Tonnesen
I agree that community service builds character and gives you a better understanding of your community but only if you are doing it and not being forced. You're more open to learn new things than if you're forced to do it. It is very important to help out in your community and CAS will help us grow and build character, only if we are more accepting of it.
ReplyDelete-Ashley Collins
Anyways, I think that community service helps build character because your exposed to more. Your seeing and learning what is going on around you, in your community. I think that being exposed to,... the world, will "allow" you to become a better person. Most will appreciate what they have more, and be grateful for what they have been given.
ReplyDeleteI think at first, when your first told that you have to "volunteer", its like an automatic fact that you know that you have to take out time of your already timeless life, to go help some other people, who might just be able to help themselves. You already have the mindset that its going to be boring, your going to be tired and all this type of stuff, but I thin once someone gets into it, you really do realize how much of a difference you will be making in the world that surrounds you. I think its important to get out and experience stuff that is not common to you. I really does open up the eyes of many and allows them to see things in a different perspective.
There is a difference between wanting to help out the community and forced to help out the community. For example, I did the give a day get a day thing with Disney world. That's when you do something for the community and you get a free ticket to Disney. I made care packages for the military. Yes it was nice and I felt like I helped out, but the cold truth is I wouldn't have done it if I was getting nothing in return. Altruism was not the case <--- hehe, psychology term. The truth is it does build character, but you gotta be motivated to do it without asking for anything in return. If you do ask for something in return, you're not gonna feel as good as not asking for something. You know what they say, "we keep on waiting, waiting, waiting on the world to change!" that's my song
ReplyDeleteI do agree with this because I believe that helping others in need builds character. It shows you the gap between yourself and your community and helps you to get involved in it. I think that helping people because you have to might make some people feel as if there is no point to their helping but when they want to do it it helps them to realize the affects of their actions. Through CAS I hope to become more involved in my community and to realize how some of your actions can help others who are in need. Brandon Day
ReplyDeleteI think that because of how messed up the world is that community service is probably one of the most important things that people can do. I definitely do believe that doing stuff like community service and helping others builds character. Even if you are being forced to do it, I believe that eventually you will realize how your work is helping others and it will help you to become a better person. For people who are being forced to perform community service, I believe that after a while it will not become such a chore and that they will actually enjoy it because of the benefits that it can bring to others. I definitely hope that CAS can make me more of a better person and more willig to help others.
ReplyDelete-Matthew Greene
I believe that it can go both ways with different tasks. For example if you do community service that makes u miserable and its very boring...then its not really going to do anything significant but get you a few hours. How ever if you go help people and make see how much they appreciate it and make someone smile, then it would built allot of character..even if it is mandatory to do the service, if you take an extra mile to help raise money for someone in need by setting up a battle of the bands, or something more than just picking garbage off the side of the road or answering phones, allot of fun, build character and be a great experience, and you may have had a bad attitude about doing it at first, but Seeing satisfaction among others always builds character. So honestly I think C.A.S is a good thing if you do the right things and think positively about it. It is great to help others and we shouldn't look at is being forced against our will to be slaves to our community. I know that i have had allot of help from my community, and if i had cancer or my house burnt down or one of my family's did, i would love it if someone helped me. So its good to sacrifice time and dedication out of your life to help others. Good deeds come back and this world needs less selfish people in it:)
ReplyDeleteIts all about your intention. If you want to just do the volunteering for the sake of getting hours...you will get your hours but I don't think you will get the character and good feeling. If you volunteer because you want to become a better person, then, you will get that good feeling. I personally hate logging in hours when I volunteer. It makes me feel as if I was just doing it for the hours and not for the service. I will start volunteering at the hospital again for CAS and I hope I get to meet awesome people who always seem to teach me a little bit about life :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Maryam. Like if you want to volunteering is something you want to do, the hours will come, but like if you're forced to get hours and you're just doing something you won't get anything out of it. Like right now I have a lot of volunteering hours, many of which I havent logged because I don't think oh I have hours let me log them, it's more of I was doing something fun I don't care abouty hours. If you enjoy doing it then it will help your character.
ReplyDelete-Sylvia Williams
CAS will not make us better people because the work is required of us. None of us want to do this, regardless of what we might say. Community service is one thing, and volunteering is something I like doing. But CAS is something that we are being forced to do, so the result won't make us better people. In fact, I think the IB program as a whole is making us even worse. We look down on other students and compete with our friends over who is smarter. We're all just apart of this material society and being forced to do community service won't make us any better. - Barack Jordan
ReplyDeleteCommunity service does build character. It allows people to interact with and help people who do not have the advantages in life that you do. Now, with that said, being forced to do this doesn't completely defeat the purpose, but it does make the act less meaningful. While you still help people and build character, you're not doing it just for the sake of doing it, and that's what community service should be about. You should take part in helping others because you want to, not because you need to for a diploma or scholarships.
ReplyDelete-Krystal Midcap
I think that helping others in need can help build character because it makes you realized how lucky you are and appreciate what we have. If we are forced to do this community work then it is not out of wanting to help others, it is just because we have to and we do not put forth our best effort and it is just half-assed then. By completing our CAS hours I think it will allow some of us to maybe become more involved with aiding our community. - Alicia Wilson
ReplyDeleteVolunteering for the community does help in allowing us to build character in ourselves. We are choosing to dedicate our own time for others because we want to help them, not because we are forced. CAS forces us to complete hours for graduating and it tends to take away the full effect and purpose of doing the volunteer work. I think we should be able to do CAS, but not any specific amount of hours and it not be such a forced activity. - Thomas Cummings
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that community service helps to strengthen a person while building character. However, it is impossible for one to recieve the full effect and fulfillment of community service if the tasks are forced upon you as a burden. It's difficult to give anything your all if you are stressed while doing it. Out of CAS I hope to recieve my IB diploma and learn that in life there will always be things thrown at you that will be added stress and that it is up to that individual to decide whether or not they are willing to go the extra distance in order to succeed.
ReplyDelete~Kayla Barrett~
I think that the CAS will help people in the long run but we are only going to do the CAS because we HAVE to do it. I know some people do do things that help people with out being told to and that will build more character than being told we have to help people.
ReplyDelete~Taylor Stephen
CAS is a waste of time now. Community service can build character if you want to do the community service. Being forced to do CAS when you have no time at all is not going to build anything but anger. CAS would have been okay in 9th or 10th grade when we didnt have as much work. Now we have so much work and most people have jobs and are in sports. CAS is just one more thing to piss me off about IB when you feel like you have no time for anything boom there's a big slap of CAS in your face. Thank you Mrs. Ferguson for trying to help us out with the CAS group and everything your amazing and I'm glad you make sure we all stay in IB and give us peptalks and care about our future. Your awesome! But yeah CAS builds nothing but headaches Haley rasnick
ReplyDeleteEven though helping others makes us feel good, I don't think it builds character if we don't want to do it. Forcing us to do 150 hours of community service isn't thrilling, on top of all of our school work, homework, and for some of us, jobs. CAS just stresses us out even more and adds another mandatory service to IB. Man, we are really dedicated. Thanks to Mama Ferg, for helping us with CAS!
ReplyDelete