Reply #71: Interesting proposal... [View All]

but I don't think it makes sense for the federal government to mandate this. I think it would be good if most high schoolers did some sort of community service, but I remember how much I bitched and moaned about it when I was taking a course that did require it.

Kerry obviously has the right idea in that he thinks building more of a sense of community would be a good thing. I agree, but American society is not structured that way. It's more disconnected and individualistic. The fact is that many high schoolers have to raise money for college since it is so expensive in this country.

I think a better idea would be to offer incentives for people that do some community service -- volunteering at homeless shelters and soup kitchens, tutoring kids in poor areas, etc. I'm sure there would be more people that would do these things if there was some incentive -- the best thing would probably be some kind of college grant/scholarship sort of thing. I do believe that these experiences would be more useful than flipping burgers, or bagging groceries, or some other mindless task. That way, the money would be used to further those persons' education, while at the same time having other benefits for society.

Mandating would be unweildy and impractical though. Many high schools already have some sort of community service requirement. Such requirements would best be made at the local level.