Someone was blogging about someone blogging about the concept of “mandatory volunteering”. I think the original post linked to a London Times columnist talking about how the government (British) should require everyone between the ages of 12 and 85 to perform 12 days of “volunteering” each year.
A different link went to an interesting L.A. Times article. Columnist Jonah Goldberg started by noting (back in July) Barack Obama said in a campaign speech that as president he would:
"set a goal for all American middle and high school students to perform 50 hours of service a year, and for all college students to perform 100 hours of service a year."
He then cited the following:
“Americans are vastly more generous with their time and their money than Europeans. According to social demographer Arthur C. Brooks, in 1995 (the last year international comparative data on giving was available), Americans gave 3 1/2 times as much money to charities and causes as the French, seven times more than the Germans and 14 times more than the Italians.In 1998, Americans also volunteered 21% more than the Swiss and 32% more than Germans -- two countries with compulsory national service. And yet we're continually told we should emulate them so that America too can have a "culture of service."”
His point was that if the government starts to make these things mandatory, the government will mess it up. Not to mention spending a fortune on the bureaucracy to enforce it. Or else require schools to enforce it, as if they don’t have enough to do. And any way, college kids?
I’m not saying that I didn’t personally have the time. I had the time and wasted it like many kids away from home for the first time. But my roommate was an athlete. There were plenty of students like her that did not have scholarships, but participated in other activities. It required careful scheduling. Plenty of kids are required to work part-time (full-time in the summer) just to meet their expenses. Some even do both jobs and activities. A hundred hours of community service on top of that? I don’t think so.
Goldberg, and a whole lot of British Internet commenters, likened “mandatory volunteering” with slavery. I wouldn’t go that far. But I do think that unwilling “volunteers” are more trouble than they are worth for an organization. And besides, it would suck all of the joy out of it.
You can read the L.A. Times article here.
About Me
- Anne
- I am an HR professional, perennial student, and volunteer. I read all sorts of articles on personal finance and also the travel section and plenty of books and I will tell you all about them. I still believe "if you want to get something done, you ask the busiest person". I live in Glenview, IL.
Crowdrise is about online fundraising, event fundraising, volunteering and having the most fun in the world while doing it. Crowdrise is way more fun than anything else aside from being all nervous about trying to kiss a girl for the first time and her not saying something like 'you've got to be kidding me.'
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2 comments:
I grew up in a rural german village and community-service was part of the unwritten conduct - if you didn't volunteer at church, sport-club or voluntary firefighters, you were not considered part of the community.
So when I became a teenager, my parents tried to force me into volunteering in one of the above mentioned - it would ruin THEIR reputation, if I didn't participiate.
Hwever, none of the above was my piece of cake.
I did volunteer - I helped croatian refugees from the Bosnia-war by translating for them, with our town being flooded by those refugees, I quickly picked up the language.
I didn't consider this volunteering, though - it was simply helping out friends in my eyes.
However, my parents did consider it volunteering and scolded me for it - in their eyes, those refugees were social outcast and I should engage within "our societal class" instead.
This experience spoiled volunteering for me for the rest of my life. Them trying to force me in a volunteering activity they considered worthy.
I'm 32 now, but still won't engage in any volunteering my parents would consider worthy, it would be like giving in. It was a long and hard struggle to become independent, so I'm uneager to do anything that would give them the impression that I'm coming closer to their values. I guess it's sort of self-protection.
I would love to volunteer at the animal shelter, I love animals - but it's too far away to commute there regulary.
I immigrated to the Netherlands and just recently, they passed a law here that requires middle school and high school students to do community service. So this will affect my daughter, too. And I certainly hope, that she'll have a great experience, but I have very mixed feelings about it being mandatory.
I hadn't considered the added element of parental, or neighbor pressure. When it isn't just "mandatory volunteering" but "mandatory volunteering at the right project". I can see why the experience has been spoiled for you.
Thanks for the comment. And best of luck in helping your daughter have a better time of it!
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