A state representative wants to foist even more graduation requirements onto college students… A state representative wants to foist even more graduation requirements onto college students across the state.

Mike Veon, D-Beaver, said on Monday he plans to introduce legislation this week that would add a 25-hour per year public service obligation to the curricula of state-operated universities in Pennsylvania.

Everyone knows typical college students are just aching for something to occupy their time. It’s not as if they have classes, hours of homework, extracurricular commitments, jobs and even families vying for their time.

Of course volunteering is a nice thing to do. It would be great if every college student had the time and inclination to better their community. The fact is, they don’t. Legislating niceness is unrealistic.

Students pay – and pay dearly – to attend college. It’s unfair to force free labor out of them in addition to charging the thousands of dollars they have to somehow come up with.

Depending on the type of labor students would be forced to do, training and overseeing them will cost a pretty penny – and Pennsylvania has cash just lying around waiting to be spent.

Most students will resent the intrusion on their time. Having a surly young person volunteering in, say, a nursing home is a great idea.

Some students – those admirable lads and lasses – already volunteer. It’s important enough to them to make time to do community service, and they should be commended. Volunteer work looks great on a resume – until every other college graduate has it, too. This measure will render their time and devotion practically meaningless.

Many students travel far from home to attend school, and will leave the city and even state they went to school in upon graduation. What’s the point in instilling civic pride in someone who won’t be around to see the benefits and remain invested in the well-being of a city or state?

Getting young people excited about public service is an excellent idea. Volunteering betters communities and the people who do it. However, forcing already busy people to, in effect, pay twice for their education – once with money, and once with labor – isn’t the way to do it.

College isn’t the time or place for a program like the one Veon’s proposing. By the time they hit college, most people have their values formed and their time spoken for.

Pick on high school kids. They’re sponging off the state as it is, and they’re young and healthy.