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COMMENTARY: While service is beneficial, making it mandatory is not

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Did you hear the news about the Korean pop band BTS and their recent conscription? 

Perhaps you heard the Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg espouse the push for mandatory national service in the United States. Or maybe you read the recent op-ed written by Linda Stamato, a Rutgers professor, expressing her support of making public service mandatory, as well. As a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, I share a similar view as the aforementioned individuals in believing that all who can serve should. 

Let me be clear, I am a proponent of national service. I am not a proponent of mandatory national service. I cannot champion another policy that would result in jail time or fines for those unable or unwilling to participate. I understand the fact that many of America’s citizens are unable to serve due to health, financial responsibilities and family dynamics. With that being said, I feel that the opportunity to serve can be transformative and beneficial, not only for the individual serving, but also for the nation. 

The pillar of my argument for encouraged national service stems from my belief that it can serve as a vehicle for employment and workforce development. This is especially true for marginalized populations that experience higher unemployment rates, regardless of what national unemployment figures may suggest. Paid volunteerism significantly improves one’s job opportunities by demonstrating innovation, flexibility and teamwork to employers. 

For example, high school graduates have a 51 percent higher likelihood of finding employment after completing their volunteer service, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service. National service can provide the spark that introduces the country’s volunteers to the skills necessary to find employment and/or become entrepreneurs. 

Whether it is the languages you learn, the cultural competence you begin to embody or the sense of awareness that guides you, service has the power to transform one into a well-rounded individual. My friends in the military can attest to the structure and discipline they received that polished them into the professionals they are today. 

My AmeriCorps friends can point to their service fondly and directly attribute their ability to build capacity, address community concerns and their leadership skills to the organization former President Lyndon B. Johnson created in 1965. Peace Corps is renowned for molding volunteers into professionals that personify community and innovation (see Netflix founder Reed Hastings and Airbnb creator Joe Gebbia).

The skills a volunteer develops while they serve their country benefits everyone involved and promotes a sense of unity and diversity. As the Peace Corps Recruiter here at Rutgers University, I am asked daily why I decided to join the Peace Corps. While there were dozens of reasons why I felt moved to join the organization that was once affectionately dubbed “Kennedy’s Kids,” the prime reason was the fact that I wanted the world to see that I too am an American. 

I am a black man from the South, yet much of the world refuses to see me as an American. For those who do think of black men in America, their thoughts are often filled with drugs, violence and a myriad of derogatory images. With the Peace Corps, I saw the opportunity to serve as a revolutionary act that could inspire world peace and friendship. In showing the world what America is, we are able to dispel myths and rumors about what we are not. 

The same can be said of the people with whom you serve. I was proud to serve with people that looked and sounded differently and therefore had a story that differed from my own. Through service, I not only learned about life in Costa Rica, but I also learned from others what it means to be Latinx in the United States, a woman in corporate America and a retiree in the land we called home. Service of all sorts can provide this understanding that serves as a bridge between cultures. 

In service, we commit ourselves to our fellow men and women in an effort to ensure our lives have more meaning. Knowing that my altruism contributed to development in a Costa Rican community has been a remarkable feeling that gets me through the darkest of days. Working, sweating and even bleeding alongside my Costa Rican counterparts led me to develop deeper discernment and understand what truly matters. 

At the end of the day, I was able to help a community improve while improving myself and that is the closest a human being gets to feeling like a superhero. I am thankful for my experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer and I hope that all who are able can experience that feeling.

Although I am unable to advocate for a mandatory national service system, I will always promote the values and benefits of public service and volunteerism. As a result, I implore all those with the ability to serve to do so in support of your community. In doing so, you can contribute to development in a community while also developing a future for yourself — full of prospects and options.

Ryan Jeter is the Peace Corps Recruiter at Rutgers University and a graduate student at Rutgers’ Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy.


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