Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Politics and Other Controversies > Elections
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 11-08-2008, 10:19 AM
 
Location: Connecticut
427 posts, read 1,383,410 times
Reputation: 357

Advertisements

My highschool and Sisters high-school require community service, so many hours by graduation, honestly 50 hours a years can be done by spending a week during the summer doing habitat for humanity.

When has giving back ever been a bad thing. Community service teaches resposabilty. I never minded doing community service and often did it on my own. I volunteered in college as well. It is not hard to give a couple of hours a week to helping others.

In college I did the breast cancer walk, and we gave papties for boys villiage, for kids who are in foster care, and built homes for people, and visited with nuns.

It is very rewarding and I think it should be mandatory in school. Especially if the schools provide opportunities.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 11-08-2008, 10:24 AM
 
52 posts, read 59,642 times
Reputation: 21
Just found this, it's a good read. It includes "service".

Obama Leaked Memo: How to Break a Campaign Promise with Hope and Change « But As for Me! (http://butasforme.com/2008/11/06/leaked-memo-how-to-break-a-campaign-promises-with-hope-and-change/ - broken link)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-08-2008, 10:32 AM
 
3,255 posts, read 5,063,089 times
Reputation: 547
Devil's advocate here

I will play, and in a spirit of goodwill.

I can see the benefit of $4000 for college, but what about high school. Suppose a kid doesn't show up? Suppose his parents, like some here, say screw that, my kid's not doing it? What is the punishment? Not graduating? Jail? What? If a kid is not planning on college, there is no incentive for them to do community service.

I had discussed earlier that there are different levels of diplomas in some districts and local employers do seek out the higher level of graduating diploma. In most situations that I have seen, students would have to take an additional for credit class to graduate, and would not get the more prestigous diploma. Where I have seen it as a successful part of the curriculum, it is a viewed as an opportunity and/or internship type thing and is well received.

Suppose you're one of the rich who is footing the bill for the $4000 college aid for others. Does your kid have to do community service? Could the rich parent hire someone to do the kid's community service? From my own experience, rich kids parents were already teaching their kids the importance of being part of the community and to give back for their blessings in some way, so most of the more well to do kids were getting credits for doing what was expected in their own families anyway.

Suppose the kid has a job, to help pay bills at home? Should community service come first?
What about athletics? If a kid has the opportunity for a scholarship, should he/she take time away from practice/training for community service? Let's see how this works out, years ago in PA, the local sports teams would hold a few 'training camps" for youngsters in the area. This time went against their community service time. As far as 100 hours in a year (and summer counts) that comes to 2 hours a week, so the burden is not really a great one.

Who transports the kids to & from community service? In suburban areas, the parents take the kids to after school activities. Does the school have responsibility to transport their workers? The school's I have seen doing this provide local opportunities to those who request it, such as working on projects at the school itself, and those who have other interests, they pursue those interests as they would normally.

There are a bunch more, maybe later. I find it funny, probably 75% of the posts on this thread are anti required community service, in some way or another. I'm having a hard time picking out who is pro Obama from the posts. Some are obvious, others, not so. What that means...???

The reason you will see a difference is because normally community service is seen as a conservative issue and fought against by the unionized working class. Now that Obama is proposing it, followers on both sides appear confused. For example, the coal miners in PA used to refuse to do volunteer work in the hospitals because they felt it took potential paying jobs away from their injured or spouses. However, the puritan work ethic of the conservative movement tells us that we should be working at all times for the glory of God paid or unpaid (reward in heaven, etc). This is just a single example of why you are seeing such a mishmosh of responses. I am sure there are other cultural reasons.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-08-2008, 10:38 AM
 
Location: Brooklyn, New York
877 posts, read 2,761,257 times
Reputation: 318
Quote:
Originally Posted by teatime View Post
How, with his $4,000/year grant or whatever he's calling it for doing community service? Puh-lease. My son and his girlfriend laughed their butts off at that. That's a drop in the bucket compared to what they can and need to earn to pay for their tuition, fees, and living expenses. Cripe, their books alone cost over $800 per semester.
Quote:
Originally Posted by teatime View Post
Exactly right!!!! And, now, good jobs are increasingly hard to come by. My son has been working as a waiter because he was doing well with tips but not anymore! Folks aren't eating in restaurants as much and, when they do, they're leaving much smaller tips if a tip at all! He's working 7 hours and leaving with $25. He has applications in all over the place but hasn't found anything yet.

And now here comes Obama with his capital gains tax and business-quashing plans. It will be more difficult for the kids to find good jobs now. I guess the libs cheer government creation of "volunteer" jobs in exchange for a tax credit or stipend but that's NO WAY to run an economy.
I don't understand why your son would laugh at a 4000 tax credit for college for 100 hours of community service per year if he is struggling. It would appear that it would be beneficial for him but maybe I am not seeing it the same way that he does.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-08-2008, 10:39 AM
 
Location: Denver
355 posts, read 553,219 times
Reputation: 105
Quote:
Originally Posted by mainesnowflake View Post
In my town we already have a 30 hour community service requirement in place to graduate high school. It is a great way for the kids to learn what it means to help another person in need or how they can help to maintain their community by donating their time. This gives them a greater understanding of the meaning of giving and that we all have something to give whether it is time or money they are both valuable.

Thank You!

While reading all of these posts I couldn't help but notice that the idea of working to keep ones community healthy is ignored. God forbid we spend an hour or so every couple of weeks taking care of each other. Much better to be selfish and hunker down in our bunkers. Think about it, 100 hours in a four year period is nothing. 100 divided by 4 is 25. That works out to about one hour every two weeks. Even one Saturday a year working in your community is all it takes if we all chip in. This country was built on individual freedom. This country will collapse if those same individuals don't understand that we are all in this together and that our country is only as strong as the weakest among us. If we all stepped up and took responsiblity for our communities instead of just our own selfish selves no one would have to mandate anything. The me generation is alive and well. You squabble over to mandate or not to mandate. You give the impression that as long as you are ok then the rest of the country doesn't matter. Get busy in your own community. If you do that then the talk of mandates will go away.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-08-2008, 10:45 AM
 
47,525 posts, read 69,442,029 times
Reputation: 22471
Quote:
Originally Posted by TeamFoster View Post
Thank You!

While reading all of these posts I couldn't help but notice that the idea of working to keep ones community healthy is ignored. God forbid we spend an hour or so every couple of weeks taking care of each other. Much better to be selfish and hunker down in our bunkers. Think about it, 100 hours in a four year period is nothing. 100 divided by 4 is 25. That works out to about one hour every two weeks. Even one Saturday a year working in your community is all it takes if we all chip in. This country was built on individual freedom. This country will collapse if those same individuals don't understand that we are all in this together and that our country is only as strong as the weakest among us. If we all stepped up and took responsiblity for our communities instead of just our own selfish selves no one would have to mandate anything. The me generation is alive and well. You squabble over to mandate or not to mandate. You give the impression that as long as you are ok then the rest of the country doesn't matter. Get busy in your own community. If you do that then the talk of mandates will go away.

Why do you liberals need Obama mandating you to do those things? What's stopping college kids right now from shutting off the X-box, stop texting on their i-Phones and get out and clean up their communities this very day?

Why must you always be forced? Why couldn't you have decided on your own that you could do something for all the financial aid you've been getting?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-08-2008, 10:47 AM
 
47,525 posts, read 69,442,029 times
Reputation: 22471
Also keep in mind -- the communities where Conservatives live look pretty okay now. Whose communities need all this cleaning up? Why aren't liberals doing more for their communities? Why all the trash and graffiti? The unpainted homes, the trashed parks?

My community isn't in bad shape at all, we've already been taking care of our places.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-08-2008, 10:56 AM
 
Location: Brooklyn, New York
877 posts, read 2,761,257 times
Reputation: 318
If possible does someone have a link where the community service is stated as a requirement. The link from the OP says he will call on students to do community service, which is not the same as a requirement but more of a request.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-08-2008, 11:13 AM
 
Location: Right where I want to be.
4,507 posts, read 9,028,599 times
Reputation: 3360
Quote:
Originally Posted by malamute View Post
Why do you liberals need Obama mandating you to do those things? What's stopping college kids right now from shutting off the X-box, stop texting on their i-Phones and get out and clean up their communities this very day?

Why must you always be forced? Why couldn't you have decided on your own that you could do something for all the financial aid you've been getting?
It won't let me rep you again but this is just what I want to know as well.

Some of us have been doing community service all along, just as we have been giving above and beyond our tax burden to help in our communities. How many BO supporters think this is an idea that he just now came up with and is worthy of their support? Well, good then, get off your fannies and get busy...it's about time!! But, it shouldn't be a government mandate.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-08-2008, 11:23 AM
 
Location: Kingman AZ
15,370 posts, read 38,987,994 times
Reputation: 9215
Community service is NOT just pickin up trash....it is also service to Seniors....etc etc etc.....

I am a conservative republican, I voted for McCain....and I think Obamama's idea is a GREAT one.....Here in NV we have a scholarship program in effect whereby a Nevada student with a 3.5gpa gets a $10,000 grant to attend ANY in state school.....he has only to agree to work within the state of Nevada for two years following graduation.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Politics and Other Controversies > Elections

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top