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'Mandatory' volunteerism?Is it time yet?
Posted Thursday, February 21, 2008
Rhonda B. Graham

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080221/OPINION12/802210310

Along with an end to the botched Iraq war, and a sustainable economic rescue, the idea that Americans at some point in their lives must do a volunteer stint to improve the country is worth pursuing.

Like Michelle Obama there have been many, many times when Americans of all political persuasions haven't been proud of their country's actions.

But enforced community service at this time in American history could bring immeasurable benefits to the nation's psyche as it grapples with housing foreclosures, doped-up national sports heroes and serious challenges to our international image as world leaders.

In the 80s, Ronald Reagan, our 40th president, coined the phrase volunteerism.

Service projects

Somehow you always got the impression that the Gipper's idea was about a duty to be inspired by patriotism, rather than the one that fuels it.

Before leaving the presidential race Sen. John Edwards promoted community service through his One Corps program. Supporters in each state worked on service projects.

Sen. Barack Obama proposes a "5-E Youth Service Corps" to get disadvantaged young people involved in service projects that focus on energy efficiency and the environment.

But Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, whose ideas on public service should get a better reception from voters than his recent bid for the Democratic presidential, gets its.

Dodd's plan for an enforced comprehensive national service focuses on drawing upon "the very best of our character."

This would be the new American patriotism at work -- a more insular approach that inspires that ubiquitous village as Sen. Hillary Clinton once encouraged, but not the bragging rights of missionaries to the third world as the Peace Corps became better know for.

But the Dodd plan includes a particular position that's worth pursuing by the next president because it drills down beyond the college-age graduate to the budding adulthood of all high school graduates.

Every student in America would be required to perform 100 hours of community-based service prior to high school graduation.

It would be a mistake to assume teenagers will appreciate clearing trash from highway shoulders or fishing out debris from public streams as their contribution to their community.

That is work that is suitable for well-guarded prison populations or perhaps more beneficial to society for the hordes of jobless ex-cons being released everyday.

The high school years are as much an impressionable age as a time when young people need to accomplish something that is impressionable.

Learning process

If the goal is inciting patriotism and pride of ownership at the local level, then targeting mandatory volunteerism to the learning process will be critical.

Dodd's proposal calls for integrating school-based voluntarism with academics.

He wants to "give every student in America an opportunity to gain new knowledge and skills while contributing to their communities and their own sense of pride."

States and schools districts will have flexibility to tailor their individual programs and requirements to meet their community's immediate needs.

For instance, pairing up the Delcastle Vo-tech carpentry and general construction students with local Habitat for Humanity projects.

Even though Dodd is out of the race, the leading presidential contenders of both parties would be stupid to not adapt his proposal to their domestic policy for the good of the country and its high school graduates.