trkyhntr,
"For some time, I have thought it would be a good idea for every high school graduate to put in one year of service before getting on with his/her life"
Why do you think that?
"It is not demeaning for a high school graduate to work in a landfill sorting materials to be recycled, nor is it demeaning for a high school graduate to put in a year working in food preparation in a hospital."
Who cares if it is demeaning or not. That is not the fundamental issue here. Volunteering is exactly that...VOLUNTEERING. You should not be forced to volunteer if you don't want to.
"What would be wrong with every graduate putting in a year doing one of them?"
Because they are free to choose what they want to do with their life, not be forced to. What value would they get out of forced work?
"As an alternative, high school grads could choose to go into one of the branches of the military."
This might be the only statement that I agree with except that this is already they way it is. High School grads can CHOOSE to go into the service if they want to. That is why our military is a volunteer military.
Why not try to give incentives to encourage volunteering? That would be a more reasonable approach. Forcing people to do something that they may not want to do and in the name of "the common good" or "the national spirit" is Socialism. Plain ans simple.
-faz
"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine." - John Galt
