ABSTRACT
This chapter makes a case for community volunteering or service being an integral part of the civic education young people receive in schools and colleges. It claims that this is necessary in order to foster a public-spirited culture. This proposal should therefore be viewed as paving the way for the schemes for facilitating public-spiritedness. In this regard, there is also the prospect that young people getting involved in community work might ignite the interests of their parents. The chapter also examines a range of potential criticisms of this proposal. It emphasizes that if people take the voluntary dimension out of community volunteering it undermines the whole notion of volunteering. Thus, to get people thinking and behaving in a more public-spirited manner volunteering needs to be part of the education. Simply relying upon people to come forward and take-up community volunteering, without this type of experience and encouragement, would not provide the basis for rebuilding local communities.
