"Quality and Quantity"

(Baonghean) - I have a niece who's in university, and every summer she participates in volunteer activities for students. Things like: supporting students during exams, the Green Summer program, and street cleaning activities – she's quite busy! This year, seeing my niece "obediently" staying home, reading books, researching first aid, rescue, and common illnesses in mountainous areas, I was surprised and asked:

- Is this year's volunteer getting too few gigs or something, that she's sitting at home enjoying the air conditioning so leisurely?

- Who said I was just sitting around doing nothing? I'm studying and preparing for my upcoming volunteer trip to a remote area!

- You see, every year, I just pack my bags and go, I don't do any research or study, do I? Young people like you just need to participate and use your youthful energy, why make it so complicated?

My niece waved her hand and shook her head vigorously. Volunteer activities now focus on "quality" rather than just "quantity" as before. People need student volunteers with knowledge and skills in specific areas and fields. This is an inevitable trend in society: after the period of rapid, widespread development, people will focus on development with depth and focus. Applying that logic to students, it makes sense: they not only have youthful energy, but they are also a well-trained force, exposed to mass media, and possess diverse knowledge and soft skills. Therefore, if we only mobilize students to participate in activities that rely on physical labor, wouldn't it be like using a sledgehammer to crack... peanuts?

"It's not exactly a sledgehammer, though!" my niece said thoughtfully after hearing my bold "declaration." She explained that traditional social activities like community service and exam support have become saturated, with supply even exceeding demand. Meanwhile, more "in-depth" and "focused" volunteer activities are still facing a shortage of student participants. Why is this? Firstly, these specialized activities are usually short-lived, only occurring for a limited time when the community needs them; their scope is not as broad as traditional activities, making it difficult to achieve widespread impact through promotion and mobilization of young people. Secondly, while in previous community activities young people participated with the mindset of "with human effort, even stones can be turned into rice," the nature of specialized activities requires participants to have a certain level of knowledge and skills in order to meet the requirements and objectives of the activity.

Of course, I completely agree with this development and innovation in youth activities, because the educational value is significantly enhanced. On the one hand, their contributions to the community will be more profound, specifically and more focused on meeting the needs of society. On the other hand, this is also an environment and motivation for them to strive harder in the process of self-improvement. The transformation in both the "quality and quantity" of volunteer activities will help students further hone the knowledge and skills they have learned, benefiting the community and serving as valuable preparation for themselves in the future. At the same time, "raising" the requirements for community activities is also a "test" to find outstanding, dynamic young people who are truly dedicated to contributing to society. Thinking about this, I feel incredibly proud of my beloved niece in particular and the new generation of young people in general!

Hai Trieu