Understanding Patterns of Commitment
Increased interest in and attention to community service in both high schools and colleges suggests the importance of understanding why students participate in community service activities. The literature clearly supplies evidence for high-school students' interest and participation in community service. Data on high-school seniors from the 1970s through the 1990s suggest that 22-24% of seniors report consistent service involvement (Youniss, McLellan, & Yates, 1999). Results from a recent survey conducted by The National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education report that 83% of all public high schools had students involved in school sponsored community service activities and 46% offered service-learning opportunities in the classroom (Westat & Chapman, 1999). Findings from the 2000 survey of first-year college students report that just over 81% of students had performed volunteer work in the past year. However, only 22.7% of students indicated that it was important to participate in a community action program, and 30.9% indicated they valued becoming a community leader (Higher Education Research Institute, 2001). While research suggests that participation in community service in high school predisposes students to continue their involvement in college (Astin & Sax, 1998; Astin, Sax, & Avalos, 1999; Berger & Milem, 2002; Vogelgesang & Astin, 2000), only 23.8% of first-year students in the 2000 survey sample indicated that the chances were very good that they would participate in volunteer or community service work (Higher Education Research Institute, 2001). These data raise questions