If you are still in high school likes yours truly you would know that in order to graduate, you HAVE to complete at least 40 hours of "community service". See you don't have a choice, albeit they say you do. Why do I feel like I am part of the Jungvolk the hitler youth. I mean I am along with many others are doing forced volunteer the oximoronic nature of that thought sickens me. I would volunteer I would, but to force teens to do something they don't want to do is a mockery to the places that hire volunters. I think that teens who really care about there prospects in post-secondary education would volunteer on there own. I am just being the pessimistic Gr.12 student or do I have a actual beef? :bugeye:

Canada's a little more socialist than down here so it seems fine for you guys to be helping out with the community.

If helping your community isn't enough motivation, I've heard chicks dig volunteerism. :rolleyes:

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I would be angry too, but you can always find loops holes. Like mowing the lawn for a few elderly people who'll pay you anyway. Or cleaning your arch-nemesis-gang's grafitti off the police station so you can tag it yourself. Or collecting cans from off the streets, which you turn into recycling and make 5-10cents each can.

You got to have positive thoughts about these things.

I went to Catholic School. It's par for the course, there. In fact, we had a really good community service coordinator who apparently had a national reputation; maybe that made my experience better. But helping nine year-old poor children learn to read actually does have its spiritual benefits.

And you know, I'm of the opinion that in the same way Community Service is fascist, so is homework, mandatory attendance, dress standards, conduct standards, and prescribed lunch periods.

Personally, I think community service is a great educational tool. We forget that part of what schools are supposed to do is to teach us to be human beings and compassionate citizens. Okay, okay, okay, public schools are factories for creating mold-injected servants to the economy, but in that case, why complain about this latest evolution?

It's just that in retrospect, that period has served me well in life. I only wish I'd been able to hang onto it in the days immediately following.

If the schools simply train people to be automatons in offices, or route them off to trade schools, well, to be honest, there will always be a place for the religious schools at least.

:m:,
Tiassa :cool:

Tiassa as a fellow catholic school student I know what u mean. But I think community service has a standard, that standard is to allow ppl who really want to help. No being there haphazardly doing shit all, or doing it disengeniously (sp). I think it does volunteerism a dis-service.

Many of the people volunteerism helps don't really have very many choices at all, so it can be a good exercise in appreciating all the ones you have.

Compared to some of the things I was "forced" to do at school (mainly at the hands of sadistic gym and athletics teachers) not to mention the fact that certain subjects were out of bounds because I was the wrong sex, I can't see the big deal with this one.

Personally, I don't agree with "mandatory volunteerism" - a great euphemism for slavery, by the way.

Aside from the obvious conflict with the rights of the enslaved, there is also the fact that this enslavement may cause the kids/young adults to grow to resent any kind of volunteer work at all.

I was forced into this politically correct form of slavery during my senior year of high school and it really pissed me off. It was only about 10 hours of slavery, and I spent it stuffing envelopes for a local art/culture organization (and I was actually a member of this organization at the time), so the job wasn't bad. The thing that pissed me off about it was that it had absolutely nothing to do with the class in which this slavery had been assigned (it was a freaking computer class, for Christ's sake) or with any of the classes I was currently taking or had taken in the past. It was just a way for the teacher to force her values on a "captive audience".

I don't have any problem with private schools requiring politically correct slavery, since nobody is forced [by the government] to attend any particular private school. Public schools (which should be privatized) should be forbidden from enslaving it's students, since those who can't afford private schools or homeschools are forced by the government to attend the public schools (which should be privatized).

It was only about 10 hours of slavery, and I spent it stuffing envelopes for a local art/culture organization (and I was actually a member of this organization at the time), so the job wasn't bad.Yeah, that's a pretty ... odd ... focus of community service.

I was one of the lucky ones. "Park Rose" was the "rough" assignment, which consisted of hanging out for a couple of hours with the elderly in a retirement home.

:m:,
Tiassa :cool:

Originally posted by tiassa
Yeah, that's a pretty ... odd ... focus of community service.

I was one of the lucky ones. "Park Rose" was the "rough" assignment, which consisted of hanging out for a couple of hours with the elderly in a retirement home.

:m:,
Tiassa :cool:

There were no required beneficiaries of our slavery, or even a recommended list. We could pick any person or organization we wanted and the teacher either approved it or she didn't (if she didn't, we had to pick another one). She didn't require it to be computer-related, which was why I think it was nothing more than an opportunity for her to force her values on the students.

Personally, I don't agree with "mandatory volunteerism" - a great euphemism for slavery, by the way.
In Australia for the welfare recipients we have "mutal obligation":bugeye:
Public schools (which should be privatized)...
How would a completely private system work?