A growing number of public schools in the United States require students to complete community service hours to graduate. Such volunteering, be it helping at a local animal shelter, when they pick up litter, or working at a health-care facility, has obvious benefits for the community it serves and teaches students important life skills. But critics say that making volunteerism compulsory misses the point of the act.

The writer wants a transition from the previous paragraph that highlights the criticism of compulsory volunteering mentioned in the previous paragraph. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?

By its very definition, volunteer work is done willingly.

By requiring students to do community service in order to graduate, school officials’ are taking away students’ choice to give up their time for nonprofit

activities, making volunteerism less meaningful and pleasurable.

Proponents of compulsory volunteering who are

in favor of it point out that it allows young people to

garner the benefits that volunteering offers.

Students who volunteer report increased self-esteem, better

relationship-building skills, and increasingly busy schedules.

Which choice provides a supporting example that is

most similar to the examples already in the sentence?

Some studies have also found that students who do community service are more likely to volunteer as adults, and thus effect society positively over the course of many years.

However, most research looks at students who volunteer in general, not making a distinction between students who are required to volunteer by their schools and those who volunteer willingly. One recent study by Sara E. Helms, assistant professor of economics at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, did focus

specifically on mandatory volunteering.

She found that students who were required to volunteer rushed to complete their service hours in early high school, they then did significantly less regular volunteer work in the twelfth grade than did students who were not required to volunteer.

She found that students who were required to volunteer rushed to complete their service hours in early high school; they then did significantly less regular volunteer work in the twelfth grade than the service hours of those not required to volunteer. Helms concluded that compulsory volunteering does not necessarily create lifelong volunteers.

Instead of requiring students to volunteer, schools have to recognize that not all students are equally well suited to the same activities. Many studies show that when schools simply tell students about opportunities for community service and connect them with organizations that need help, more students volunteer of their own free will.

Which choice most effectively sets up the point made in the next sentence?

The writer wants a conclusion that states the main claim of the passage. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?