There’s great arguments here about how a service corps could bridge divides and give all youth a better pathway from highschool into the (often predatory) worlds of job markets and higher ed, and also great arguments about why mandatory service infringes on freedom pretty significantly.
Is there a way to structure a national year of service idea that gives people the freedom to opt out yet would still get chosen by many kids from diverse backgrounds? Like how do we get kids who have had a college fund ready to go since they were born to see the benefits of spending a year building bridges? It would be a neat cultural shift.
Probably from social isolation by everyone who did do that.
Like if the rich asshole kids wanna mark themselves out by skipping out on a national service that’s their prerogative, just the same it’s everyone else’s to make judgements about them based on that.
That “some of y’all never worked a service job and it shows” tweet hits a lot harder when there’s a federal budget for the messaging about the good of lending a working hand to your fellow countryfolks.
