What other conclusion can you come to when you read about Obama’s plan to create a “community service” plan for students in middle scool, high school, and colleges?
Last time I checked, whenever you make someone work (compulsorily) for no remuneration, that’s slavery.
Cliff Mason at CNBC is not happy about it.
Some of this stuff is unobjectionable: expanding AmeriCorps, and doubling the size of the Peace Corps. But then there’s the mandatory part of his voluntary service scheme, and here I’ll let the Obama-Biden web site speak for itself: “Obama and Biden will set a goal that all middle and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year. They will develop national guidelines for service-learning and will give schools better tools both to develop programs and to document student experience.”
Putting aside the question of the educational value of community service, there’s simply nothing voluntary about forcing middle and high school students to do 50 hours of community service a year. Obama may have carried the youth vote, voters between the ages of 18 and 29, by a 66 to 32 margin, but I bet if kids in middle and high school could vote and they knew about Obama’s plan to conscript them into this national community service program, his margin among that age group would have been a lot slimmer although he still would’ve won handily because the Republicans, thanks to their intransigence on social issues, have lost an entire generation of voters, but more on that in another post.
Middle school and high school were bad enough without having to do hundreds of hours of community service. I can only hope that this sort of thing won’t get through Congress, and just this once I’m thankful that education policy is handled primarily at the state and local level. And as ever, I’m glad that I’m no longer a student.
Obama’s web site also suggests that he’ll “require 100 hours of service in college,” another frightening prospect, but there’s some ambiguity here because it seems as though this might be truly voluntary community service that you would do in exchange for a $4,000 tax credit. If it is mandatory, I suggest all college students try to graduate as fast possible, before this has a chance to become the law of the land.
Now, this morning, I read at LGF that Obama’s people caught wind of the negative aspects of this plan and are quietly making changes to his website to do away with the words,
compulsory” or “mandatory.”
But they still haven’t got all of them:
Require 100 Hours of Service in College: Obama and Biden will establish a new American Opportunity Tax Credit that is worth $4,000 a year in exchange for 100 hours of public service a year.
So, when all is said and done, Obama’s plan will be toothless and do about as much good as what Bush proposed. Except people will like Barry’s plan better because he speaks so well ad is so charismatic.
Many schools already do that as conditions for graduation. My son had to in High School. He worked at the City Animal Shelter and it was a big part of his final grade for one class.
Not a bad idea IF it is an option and not a mandate!
IN my youngest son’s senior year he signed up for an “intern” program at a local radio station–after garduating, he became their #1 DJ……