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[Zrk2]

Of course, it was a satirical effort to shock the upper class about their heartless attitudes towards the poor.

Newt Gingrich’s modest proposal is for poor kids to work as junior janitors. He wasn’t kidding.

Hint: You're doing it wrong, Newt.

What's wrong with kids sweeping floors in their schools?

That's straight up 'civic virtue' as liberals are supposed to love that sort of thing. Is it because a fat ugly Republican guy brought it up?

No. Because it is forced child labor. Full stop.

Like requiring students to preform 40 hours of "community involvement" if they wish to graduate highschool?

[Sirus]

Of course, it was a satirical effort to shock the upper class about their heartless attitudes towards the poor.

Newt Gingrich’s modest proposal is for poor kids to work as junior janitors. He wasn’t kidding.

Hint: You're doing it wrong, Newt.

What's wrong with kids sweeping floors in their schools?

That's straight up 'civic virtue' as liberals are supposed to love that sort of thing. Is it because a fat ugly Republican guy brought it up?

No. Because it is forced child labor. Full stop.

Like requiring students to preform 40 hours of "community involvement" if they wish to graduate highschool?

Eh? I never had to do that, and neither have my relatives. What state is this?

[Zrk2]

Ontario in Canada. I thought it was fucking dumb, but everyone seems to think it is a wonderful idea.

[GlyphGryph]

Mind you, I would consider "spend 40 hours doing SOMETHING, ANYTHING (your choice) to benefit to the community you live in" and "do this specific job so we don't have to pay an adult to do it" to be qualitatively different things.

[Flying Dice]

Mind you, I would consider "spend 40 hours doing SOMETHING, ANYTHING (your choice) to benefit to the community you live in" and "do this specific job so we don't have to pay an adult to do it" to be qualitatively different things.

This. Pretty much every academic association, etc. I've seen, both in high school and at university, requires some arbitrary number of hours of community service/volunteer work to "round out your life experience" and such. Let me say from experience that a couple hours a week of volunteer work (often at a rather cushy location where you don't have much to do beyond sitting around, occasionally answering phones and sweeping up) is very different from even a part time job in a fast food joint or retail location, much less 40 hours/week of manual labor. I'm not opposed to high school age kids having jobs (hell, I think it's a good thing, earning some income and getting a taste of some sort of responsibility and work ethic), but it shouldn't be a requirement for kids to go to school.

[Pnx]

I remember in my elementary school when autumn came and all the leaves fell one or two of the teachers would go to the tool shed and get out the rakes and brooms and ask for volunteers to help sweep up all the leaves, there was never any shortage of volunteers, but there was always a shortage of rakes and brooms, so I would put on my gloves and help move the leaves by hand.

Oh, and we were also responsible for keeping our desks clean, once a week we got out sponges and cleaned all the desks. I remember when I was sick for over a month with mono I came back to find my desk was incredibly filthy. It really surprised me that it got so dirty so fast.

But I guess that's a little different?

[jester]

Asking the kids to rake up some leaves is a bit differnt to forcing them to scrub toilets out of school hours for little/no pay just because they live below the poverty line

[nenjin]

Eh? I never had to do that, and neither have my relatives. What state is this?

It was a requirement here in Nebraska, at least when I was in school.

[Sheb]

Especially targeting poor kids, because they obviously need to learn how to works because we all know poverty is caused by genetics moral deficiencies.

[scriver]

That is so fucking out of this world. In any other place, that would have been if not political suicide, then at least the political equivalent of sawing your own legs off.

My mind doesn't even want to acknowledge it as a possible reality. Gingrich exposed as professional troll, read all about it. Next proposal about turning poor schools into Santa's Workshops to make toys for the rich kids?

[Heron TSG]

Like requiring students to preform 40 hours of "community involvement" if they wish to graduate highschool?

40 hours is not a whole lot of time for four years. Moreover, everyone has to do it. Equality is important here.

(My school doesn't require any, but you get a silver sticker on your diploma for 50 hours or a gold seal if you got 100+. I have something like 350 by now. It's not a lot of work, but I chose to do it because I enjoy being over-scheduled.)

[Flying Dice]

No, we're all wrong, Newt was obviously correct. Think about it: We're doing these poor kids a valuable service by teaching them how to work. They obviously aren't familiar with working, or they wouldn't be poor, right? It isn't as if there are reasons apart from laziness for someone to not have a six figure income. As an added bonus, by performing long hours of menial labor for little or no pay, we prepare them for their ideal role in society!

 

[MetalSlimeHunt]

My school makes us do a hundred hours. And then gradually put in place a number of arbitrary restrictions on what can be earned where and when to prevent people from getting hours quickly or efficiently.

I hate my school's administration.

[nenjin]

My school refused to accept the ~400 hours of community service I'd done over two summers my sophmore and junior years. Even though I had documentation from both the Food Bank and the Children's Zoo, basically telling them they'd have hired me as a full-time employee had I been able to stay, they made me do something in-state. I could have gotten angry, but after 400 hours of non-voluntary volunteer service, 40 hours seemed pretty trivial.

[Montague]

Why is everybody assuming the kids volunteering to clean school facilities will be poor?

What's wrong with paying volunteers to do labor?

Or say it isn't voluntary and every student is required to clean facilities for say the last 30 minutes of the school day?

Since when do rich kids go to public school anyways?

What the hell sort of liberalism are the teaching these days anyways? Voluntary labor for the benefit of the community is supposed to be a virtue, not some sort of victimization or maryterdom. What the fuck guys?