BellaOnline Forums Money Charity What do you think of Obama's call to service?

There are a lot of folks out there blogging about the pros and cons of Barack Obama's plan for children in middle and high schools to do 50 hours of community service each year. Where do you stand on the topic?

Check out the latest article on the Charity Site for more details:

Obama's Call to Service Creates Controversy
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It is an interesting question.

On the one hand, getting kids to focus on helping others would take time away from getting into gangs, drugs, and other trouble-making activites.

But what about kids who struggle in school, or who do bot have parents that can take them back and forth to these projects? What is the "punishment" going to be for not participating in the service projects?

And where does the line get drawn on volunteers and who is exempt? Kids are not allowed to participate in sports, clubs, or other school activities if theior grades fall below a certain point - would that apply to the volunteer hours as well?

What about Special Needs Children? There are some that would gladly (and greatly) help out others. Then there are some (like my son with Asperger's) that I would be afraid to have in some areas. As a matter of fact - he is in the Beta Club, and a major part of being in that is community service, but some of the club service projectsd are not things that Michael could handle - too public, and he would wind up being frustrated and in a rage by the end of the day. So we have an arrangement with the Club sponsor that he works with his step-grandparents at the Humane Society to fill in those hours.

Overall - I think it is a good idea, but there is going to have to be a ot of thought put into it. I got the feeling that when Obama proposed it he has this kind of idealized version, without considering any of the exceptions.

I am concerned it would cause a lot more problems for our youth and for the parents who are struggling to raise them in such controversial and uncertain times. Volunteering to help out the communities can be a wonderful thing, but the key word is VOLUNTEER. I think this type of program should be saved for the kids or young adults who have had problems in life (criminalistic) in order to help them learn the importance of serving their communities instead of breaking the laws. Kids of today have enough to do and stress about without having to get stressed about being forced to "volunteer". This would also add a lot of stress to the single parents out there who are running all day and half the night to keep their kids on track with other priorities.

No - I do not think the mandatory "volunteer" program would help - it very well may turn kids and their parents against all thoughts of ever volunteering for anything.

"Call to Service"? Does this sound a little communistic to anyone else but me?

Last night on the local news I heard that 11 basketball players were caught shoplifting. What was their punishment from the Coach? One game of suspension. One game!!! When the reporter asked the coach why just suspend them for only one game for such a serious issue? The coach's reply was, "Well, these kids are hoping to be spotted and picked by college recruiters and suspending them for more than one game would hinder the kids' chances." Well - DUH! The simple solution is if you want to get somewhere in life do not break the law.

The reason I bring this up here in this thread is because I think this is the perfect example to utilize the "call to service" and assign so many hours of community service to these kids who did the shoplifting. If all kids had to do community service then what good would it do to "punish" kids who broke the law by assigning them to community service when they would have to do that anyway?

What is it about the word 'volunteer' that Obama doesn't understand??????????????
And those basketball players knew they were breaking the law and hurting their chances when they did the shoplifting. So -- do the crime -- do the time.
I'm sick and tired of sports people and celebrities having a different level of punishment than ordinary citizens.

I hear ya, daisybun! I was shocked that there are different standards for sports players - but, I guess that should not be so shocking considering the celebrities get off pretty easy, too. They are "discussing this situation with the basketball players and hopefully will come up with a better solution". To me, the answer is simple - assign some tough community service hours to them.

There are so many different opinions on this topic. Although I agree that mandating service is hypocritical (volunteering by its nature is a choice), I also feel that if these young basketball players had been exposed to some type of service learning or volunteer efforts in the first place, it may have helped to discourage this type of behavior. Let's get kids doing the right thing and making the right choices before they make the wrong ones, rather than punish them by trying to teach them the right choices after. Punishment is definitely required in this case, a punishment way stronger than the coach handed out. But, again, what if they were taught properly in the first place?

The concept behind service learning is clearly to help our children understand that the right thing to do is to lend a hand to those in need. Volunteering keeps kids off the streets, out of gangs, and in the right frame of mind to care about doing the right thing. I'm willing to give Obama a chance to show us exactly how he plans to encourage service learning -- perhaps it will be based on an extra credit type framework, and then opponents can breathe easier that their children won't be forced to volunteer. I'm also sure that the model will take into consideration those situations that Michelle brought up, like Special Needs kids, and working parents, or single parent families who can't get their kids back and forth to volunteer projects. If it is approached with a clear head, I'm sure everyone can come out a winner.

Tricia,

It is only fair to give Obama the benefit of the doubt and wait and see exactly what his plan is before we express opinions. I am just hung up on the "mandatory volunteer" aspect of it.

If they would consider giving scholarship money for this that would probably be a wonderful way to encourage it.

Yes, that would be a good incentive, Michelle.