Nothing Like

[The Dark Wolf]

Rewarding voluntary work seems like a good idea to me. Do some kind community service for college money, I'm there!!

If they want to truly make this a program that follows tried and proven rules of fundamental economic human behavior, don't make it mandatory, but provide incentives to encourage volunteer work. College money is a great one.

 

[JBroll]

If today's government were trying to start a space program we'd still have people arguing over whether the moon is made of cheese.

Jeff

 

[Zepp88]

Well, I'm supportive of this myself. Rewarding community contributions for credit towards college? Yessir where do I sign up?

In some countries college is free (Jon was telling me this about Sweden), hell you even get some money for going to college.

One of my reasons for not going to college was becuase I didn't want that bill, I can't afford it, plain and simple.

 

[Zepp88]

If today's government were trying to start a space program we'd still have people arguing over whether the moon is made of cheese.

Jeff

Pfft space? Who the fuck cares about space, aliens don't exist retard!

 

[The Dark Wolf]

If today's government were trying to start a space program we'd still have people arguing over whether the moon is made of cheese.

Heh. I can't really argue with that one.

It's just a bogus argument that government is the cause (or cure) of all society's ills. Some things take a collection of resources only a government can provide. Some don't. There's just no cut-and-dried answer on that one.

Simplistic thinking, which is the enemy of rational people.

 

[JBroll]

Government as a theoretical entity might be capable of things, but the current state of things doesn't really inspire confidence.

Jeff

 

[ILdÐÆMcº³]

$4,000 / 100hrs = $40 per hour

In my opinion that's great, I don't see the problem.

 

[JBroll]

It was originally stated to be mandatory, which doesn't sit well with a few people around here.

Jeff

 

[JJ Rodriguez]

If the middle/high school one is during school hours, I don't see it being that big of a deal. As long as they don't try to tell you what you HAVE to do outside of school hours, then it's perfectly reasonable. I mean, I wouldn't have done it when I was a kid, since I hate just about everything

The college one, as long as it's voluntary, and they give you that tax credit at $40/hour, then that's fucking awesome. It depends how they do it though. If you can do it during your vacation (since I know lots of people who work full time to save up for tuition during the summer) then apply it to either the next semesters balance, or pay off your student loan if you have any, then I think that would be awesome. Basically it would be providing work for a group of people that are generally looking for work during their time off.

 

[TonalArchitect]

If the middle/high school one is during school hours, I don't see it being that big of a deal. As long as they don't try to tell you what you HAVE to do outside of school hours, then it's perfectly reasonable. I mean, I wouldn't have done it when I was a kid, since I hate just about everything

The college one, as long as it's voluntary, and they give you that tax credit at $40/hour, then that's fucking awesome. It depends how they do it though. If you can do it during your vacation (since I know lots of people who work full time to save up for tuition during the summer) then apply it to either the next semesters balance, or pay off your student loan if you have any, then I think that would be awesome. Basically it would be providing work for a group of people that are generally looking for work during their time off.

This post

 

[Kagami]

NASA's pretty much a spinoff from the Air Force, that's the only reason they get stuff accomplished.

 

[Nick]

saying students dont have time for 100hrs in a year is pretty ridiculous. How many of those same students that have no time are on this forum posting stuff?

I dont think the students should be made to do it but having 4k off your fees is pretty good.

High school kids need this sort of thing as a deterrant. If they have to go out and do something for nothing that they dont want to do its going to give at least some of them a bit of a push to develop some work ethic and go out and get a job that pays well and to do this they will need to stay in school and get a decent education.

 

[JJ Rodriguez]

Meh, if it's during school hours, some of them would probably just be happy to get out of class

 

[The Trooper]

Interesting topic. It definitely shouldn't be mandatory at any level. Telling a bunch of kids they "have" to do something is the quickest way to make them not want to do it. It's great in theory, but definitely not practical.

When you're talking about middle school kids, you become a burden on the parents that would have to amend their schedules accordingly to drive them to where they were going, etc...on top of other activities the kids may already be involved in. If they have the time and desire, more power to them. But you shouldn't make it mandatory.

Plus, the moment it becomes mandatory - as briefly mentioned before here - you'll probably have a bunch of asshole kids who don't want to be there acting out, being defiant, and ruining the experience for the kids who DO want to be there (and likely would have been there to begin with). Which ties into this...community service is a great resume builder for middle/high school kids that helps show initiative and character, and it helps differentiate those that do community service from the pack. If everyone has to do it, then it devalues the contribution from those who actually would have done it regardless.

Give them an incentive and make it optional. $4000 towards college is great for 100 hours, but I wouldn't wait until kids got TO college to give them that opportunity. Make it available as the incentive once they start high school so they can earn up $16k for college prior to starting (in exchange for 100 hours per year). That would be a huge help for a lot of kids, and then maybe they could just grab a part-time job and enjoy college while they're there instead of working, going to class and worrying about community service on top of it. You need to enjoy college. If you went to a more expensive school and wanted to do extra community service for the cash while you were there, more power to you. But giving them the possibility of $16k prior to college would open up a lot more potential and probably give a lot more options to students once they started.

These are just random numbers and such using what they mentioned. you could cap it however you liked, I was just making the main points of A) keep it voluntary, B) give them incentives for college, and C) allow them to acquire college funds BEFORE starting college.

 

[Rick]

I'm fine with an incentive. Just don't say this has to be done.