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Originally Posted by willravel
Translation: kids should be able to grow up selfish. I wonder why we invade other countries for oil...
or it is a political stand against doing work? Are you really going to sit there and defend laziness with anarchy? I don't mean any disrespect, but I've not heard of anything like that since the kids in HS who I bought my weed from.I would hope you're not fighting for a kid's right to be lazy.
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It's a stand against schools forcing political values on peoples' children. If my future children decide of their own free will that they want to do community service, I won't forbid or discourage them as long as it doesn't interfere with their responsibilities (homework, household chores, etc.). However; I absolutely will not force them to do community service or allow others to do so unless it's a judge punishing them for a crime they've committed.
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Originally Posted by willravel
Civilization will see the benefits of requiring kids to learn about language, arts, maths, sciences, and civics. If you skip one of those, the kids are going to be deficient in some way. Part of being a part of a collection of more than one person is realizing that on many levels our fates are intertwined with the people around us. If you live as an island, no one will benefit from you and you won't benefit from anyone else. That's called stagnation.
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A child can be educated without being loaned out as a servant to his or her neighbors. And any civilization that can't survive without subjecting its people to involuntary servitude doesn't deserve to survive, in my opinion.
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Originally Posted by willravel
Besides a 'political agenda' by 'bureaucrats' are there any other strawmen you want to shoot by us here?
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How is it a strawman? A number of people in this thread have defended mandatory community service for political/philosophical reasons (civic duty, making the world a better place, etc.). It seems pretty obvious to me what the motivations are for such a policy.
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Originally Posted by willravel
If you saw someone who had been hit in a hit and run, would you pull over and help them? If you answer no, you're a bad person (unethical, immoral, possibly a coward) and someday when someone helps you selflessly, I hope you figure out the whole selflessness thing. If you answer yes, then why not teach your kids the same values?
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Yes, I would help. But what you don't seem to understand is that there's a difference between choosing to help and being forced to help.
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Originally Posted by willravel
Name me a volunteer program for kids that involves the risk of IEDs. None? Apples, meet oranges.
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It's not a "volunteer program" if people are being forced to participate (which would be the case in both a military draft and mandatory community service). And there are plenty of non-combat jobs in our military.
Anyway; the argument is not about whether or not mandatory service is dangerous. It's about whether or not the government should be allowed to commandeer our lives just because someone thinks it will be good for us.