Just Say No To Compulsory Community Service
There have certainly been many arguments for compulsory community service for high school graduates, mainly as an addendum to the high school curriculum that would not allow these students to receive a high school diploma until after completing a set number of hours (typically 40 or 60) of unpaid work in the community. At face value, compulsory community service does not seem to be a bad ideal. However, what this really does is destroy the spirit of students, teaching them to conform to a public policy of servitude rather than have independent and innovative thoughts.
The notion of compulsory community service became particularly fashionable near the end of the 1990's and President Clinton's second term. Its popularity is not limited however to the crazy notions of the leftist political groups, but among the perennially collectivist ideas of the conservatives as well. The national volunteerism campaign of Bill Clinton, Colin Powell and George Bush (Sr.) began in April 1997, and immediately developed a huge following. The premise of the campaign for volunteerism holds that service to the needy is good for young people, and that it will inspire them and fill their lives with meaning. In a press conference, then President Bill Clinton explained, "We want to spark a renewed sense of obligation, a new sense of duty, and a new season of service all across our nation," (Clinton quoted in Bernstein, 1998), taking the stance of JFK's famous "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." But why the need for this sense of obligation in a country that was developed on the self-interests of its citizens? Certainly, America does not want to turn its high school graduates into serfs for the sake of what they feel is a "better society".
One advocate of compulsory community service argued that "The higher interests involved in the life of the whole must set th...