And part of being an American means you don't have to 'get your hands dirty' if you don't want to. You do not have to see the 'good pats' or the 'bad parts' if you choose not to. If you do not care, you do not need to know that you are part of the world and that your actions, good and bad, have consequences beyond your immediate understanding.
That being said, while I think anyone who purposely avoids such things, for whatever reasons they have, are fools, I firmly believe it is heir right as an American citizen to be a fool and would fight for them to maintain that right. I am all for making civics a larger, more important, part of school, but 'national service', to me, is not civics. Neither is ecology or history. What if instead of 'national service' everyone was required to play baseball (it is America's past time)? I am sure a lot of those in favor of mandatory service would argue it is an infringement of your rights to force someone to play baseball. I feel the same way about 'national service'. On Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 12:31 AM, Judah McAuley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > I'd argue that civics is at least as important as reading, writing and > math. I've known good people who couldn't read and write. I've known > people who could read and write just fine but who were lousy excuses > for human beings. I don't think that civic service will make everyone > good and the lack of it certainly wouldn't make everyone bad. > > None the less, I think that a well rounded education ought to include > a notion that you a part of your neighborhood, your town, your state, > your country and your world and that you owe a debt to those that came > before you, you are peers with those around you and you create the > world for those that will come after. That means learning about > civics, learning about ecology, learning history...all the disciplines > that explain how we are interconnected. And that also means a > practicum...getting out and getting your hands dirty, seeing the good > parts and bad parts of our world and getting a visceral understanding > that you are a part of it all. A small part, perhaps, but important > and that your actions, good and bad, have consequences beyond your > immediate understanding. > > I wouldn't want to go overboard on mandatory public service. I don't > want to see the Obama version of Hitler Youth (which I'm sure has been > conjured up in some feverish minds). But I do feel as I've cogitated > on it longer that we ought to expect more of our citizens. For the > bulk of our citizenry, being American is a happy accident of their > place of birth. They are given rights, privileges and opportunities > that many around the world dream of. I'd like to think that we could > ask a little more of those people than abiding by the general laws and > paying most of their taxes. I think that being part of a great country > is worth some time and energy giving back to it and helping make it > greater still. > > Judah > > On Sun, Nov 9, 2008 at 9:01 PM, Scott Stroz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > How about we make sure our kids can read and write and do math befor we > sign > > them up for anything else. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:279579 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
