10 ms·

Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100

Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start. (from http://change.gov/americaserves http://change.gov/americaserves) Compulsory volunteerism?

PieSquared 18y ago
Ack... That makes me cringe. In my school district (in MD) you are required to have 75 hours of community service hours to graduate high school. It's also nearly impossible to earn them doing something interesting - most people resort to sorting books or working at a library or something. 100 hours of community service in college every year? That'd really sucks. It may not seem like a lot, but it is if they're spent on drudgery...
- auston 18y ago
  I understand where you are coming from, we had a 40 hour requirement at my high school. But I can't help but feel you aren't being creative enough or looking hard enough. I mean I'm sure homeless shelter's need volunteers, as do toy donations for under privileged children, political campaigns need volunteers (see Louie Mantia's contribution to the Obama campaign here: http://louiemantia.com/blog/?p=31 http://louiemantia.com/blog/?p=31), and so do Boys & Girls clubs. Not to mention taking 1-2 weeks off and helping people in other countries.
  - PieSquared 18y ago
    1 or 2 weeks off from high school isn't really an option, if you're the type that cares about grades. A friend of mine got stuck in India after a vacation (passport troubles) for nearly 2 weeks, and had a rather difficult time afterwards. However, I'm one of the lucky few here. :) I'll manage to get the community service hours by being a sysop for my school, i.e. managing the Ubuntu server that runs a significant part of the school technology infrastructure.
- bigthboy 18y ago
  I believe, but I'm not for certain, that developing a plan includes also coming up with new and helpful ways to do community service, not just a "here, 50 hour requirement, go have fun." That's something the Bush admin would do, I sure hope an Obama admin won't. I also don't think its necessarily the best thing to do... perhaps he should give incentives to school districts that implement such a system but make the school districts responsible for it.
  - hugh 18y ago
    That's something the Bush admin would do, I sure hope an Obama admin won't. I think you're doomed to be repeatedly disappointed over the coming years as we all remember that government incompetence isn't some weird temporary anomaly, it's just the way things are.
    - bigthboy 18y ago
      I understand that, I know we're not going to abolish government incompetence, but lessen the degree is something realistic to shoot for.
- lacker 18y ago
  Look at the flip side - if your small business provides a way for high school students to do something useful for you, and it is both somewhat fun and counts as "community service", then perhaps you have access to a nearly free source of labor.
- bayleo 18y ago
  We needed 75 hours in FL for the bright futures scholarship. I joined the local volunteer fire station and got my first responder cert. from the county. It's not always boring.
  - hugh 18y ago
    Well that's good, but it doesn't scale. If twelve kids in the county want to do volunteer work then it's easy to find places for them, but if five thousand kids in the county need to do volunteer work they can't all be accommodated in "sensible" programs.
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
jobeirne 18y ago
Does anyone find the phrase "americaserves" ominous?
- nihilocrat 18y ago
  Does anyone find the phrase "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country" ominous? I'm not disagreeing with you, just reminding everyone of something very similar.
  - hugh 18y ago
    Actually, I personally have always found that one a bit ominous too. If I were President I'd say: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your own sorry ass." I've got no interest in getting into a particularly deep and codependent relationship with my country. I'll pay my taxes, they can enforce the laws, and we'll leave it at that.
noodle 18y ago
while it would definitely be nice if more people volunteered, i highly doubt that this will ever happen. the mandatory part, that is.
rms 18y ago
I believe that 100 hours of community service also includes $4000 worth of tuition credit, but we'll see. Remember that this is his idealized plan, now he has to govern. Obviously compulsory volunteerism won't actually be mandated. This is America.
- patrickg-zill 18y ago
  I don't share your "obvious" optimism... there are plenty of ways that the Federal Gov't mandates behavior that would not otherwise occur.
- yummyfajitas 18y ago
  Lets not use euphemisms, especially oxymoronic ones like "compulsory volunteerism." It's forced labor. We should not call it anything but what it is.
  - hugh 18y ago
    So, "slavery" then? Who'd have thunk President Obama would be the one to bring back slavery? Seriously though, it's not actually _forced_, it's just encouraged via one of those offers-you-can't-refuse. It really does make me very uneasy though. Why did people wait until after the election to start discussing the more worrying aspects of Obama's policy platform? And how long before people start discussing Obama's triple goals of giving tax cuts to 95% of the population while balancing the budget and starting up many expensive new federal programs?
    - yummyfajitas 18y ago
      Pointing out bad things about Obama's policies is one thing. But if you replace "policies" with "skin color", then you would be a super crazy racist! http://www.qwantz.com/archive/001339.html http://www.qwantz.com/archive/001339.html His "tax cuts" to 95% of tax-filers is even more interesting when only about 60% of tax filers actually pay taxes.
      - RichardWaite 18y ago
yters 18y ago
Yeah, nothing like compulsion to make me want to help others.
nihilocrat 18y ago
Germany already requires something like this, or military service, when you turn 18. Sweden requires compulsory military service, and I don't actually know, but I bet they can choose community service instead.

PieSquared 18y ago

Ack... That makes me cringe. In my school district (in MD) you are required to have 75 hours of community service hours to graduate high school. It's also nearly impossible to earn them doing something interesting - most people resort to sorting books or working at a library or something. 100 hours of community service in college every year? That'd really sucks. It may not seem like a lot, but it is if they're spent on drudgery...

auston 18y ago
I understand where you are coming from, we had a 40 hour requirement at my high school. But I can't help but feel you aren't being creative enough or looking hard enough. I mean I'm sure homeless shelter's need volunteers, as do toy donations for under privileged children, political campaigns need volunteers (see Louie Mantia's contribution to the Obama campaign here: http://louiemantia.com/blog/?p=31 http://louiemantia.com/blog/?p=31), and so do Boys & Girls clubs. Not to mention taking 1-2 weeks off and helping people in other countries.
- PieSquared 18y ago
  1 or 2 weeks off from high school isn't really an option, if you're the type that cares about grades. A friend of mine got stuck in India after a vacation (passport troubles) for nearly 2 weeks, and had a rather difficult time afterwards. However, I'm one of the lucky few here. :) I'll manage to get the community service hours by being a sysop for my school, i.e. managing the Ubuntu server that runs a significant part of the school technology infrastructure.
bigthboy 18y ago
I believe, but I'm not for certain, that developing a plan includes also coming up with new and helpful ways to do community service, not just a "here, 50 hour requirement, go have fun." That's something the Bush admin would do, I sure hope an Obama admin won't. I also don't think its necessarily the best thing to do... perhaps he should give incentives to school districts that implement such a system but make the school districts responsible for it.
- hugh 18y ago
  That's something the Bush admin would do, I sure hope an Obama admin won't. I think you're doomed to be repeatedly disappointed over the coming years as we all remember that government incompetence isn't some weird temporary anomaly, it's just the way things are.
  - bigthboy 18y ago
    I understand that, I know we're not going to abolish government incompetence, but lessen the degree is something realistic to shoot for.
lacker 18y ago
Look at the flip side - if your small business provides a way for high school students to do something useful for you, and it is both somewhat fun and counts as "community service", then perhaps you have access to a nearly free source of labor.
bayleo 18y ago
We needed 75 hours in FL for the bright futures scholarship. I joined the local volunteer fire station and got my first responder cert. from the county. It's not always boring.
- hugh 18y ago
  Well that's good, but it doesn't scale. If twelve kids in the county want to do volunteer work then it's easy to find places for them, but if five thousand kids in the county need to do volunteer work they can't all be accommodated in "sensible" programs.

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]

jobeirne 18y ago

Does anyone find the phrase "americaserves" ominous?

nihilocrat 18y ago
Does anyone find the phrase "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country" ominous? I'm not disagreeing with you, just reminding everyone of something very similar.
- hugh 18y ago
  Actually, I personally have always found that one a bit ominous too. If I were President I'd say: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your own sorry ass." I've got no interest in getting into a particularly deep and codependent relationship with my country. I'll pay my taxes, they can enforce the laws, and we'll leave it at that.

noodle 18y ago

while it would definitely be nice if more people volunteered, i highly doubt that this will ever happen. the mandatory part, that is.

rms 18y ago

I believe that 100 hours of community service also includes $4000 worth of tuition credit, but we'll see. Remember that this is his idealized plan, now he has to govern. Obviously compulsory volunteerism won't actually be mandated. This is America.

patrickg-zill 18y ago
I don't share your "obvious" optimism... there are plenty of ways that the Federal Gov't mandates behavior that would not otherwise occur.
yummyfajitas 18y ago
Lets not use euphemisms, especially oxymoronic ones like "compulsory volunteerism." It's forced labor. We should not call it anything but what it is.
- hugh 18y ago
  So, "slavery" then? Who'd have thunk President Obama would be the one to bring back slavery? Seriously though, it's not actually _forced_, it's just encouraged via one of those offers-you-can't-refuse. It really does make me very uneasy though. Why did people wait until after the election to start discussing the more worrying aspects of Obama's policy platform? And how long before people start discussing Obama's triple goals of giving tax cuts to 95% of the population while balancing the budget and starting up many expensive new federal programs?
  - yummyfajitas 18y ago
    Pointing out bad things about Obama's policies is one thing. But if you replace "policies" with "skin color", then you would be a super crazy racist! http://www.qwantz.com/archive/001339.html http://www.qwantz.com/archive/001339.html His "tax cuts" to 95% of tax-filers is even more interesting when only about 60% of tax filers actually pay taxes.
    - RichardWaite 18y ago

yters 18y ago

Yeah, nothing like compulsion to make me want to help others.

nihilocrat 18y ago

Germany already requires something like this, or military service, when you turn 18. Sweden requires compulsory military service, and I don't actually know, but I bet they can choose community service instead.