David Cameron calls for all teens to do community service.

[SenseOfTumour]

Main problem is, people had already volunteered to clean up, but weren't allowed in the main, hundreds of people got together at trouble spots ready to start the big clean up after the riots, but in many cases, either couldn't do anything because police were still collecting evidence, or the councils had already cleaned up any mess, being far less than the press had made it out to be.

SHOCK HORROR REPORT: turns out there's still some buildings left standing in many cities around Britain.

I would however suggest that Cameron heard about the majority of good, decent people coming out to show that we're not all rioting thugs and figured if he got a quote out quick enough he could make it look like HE made it happen. (whereas people probably want to help less now in case it looks like they're doing what he wants!)

Also, amusing that he's so against the rioting scum, when he was part of a club at school who regularly went out and smashed up restaurants and the like, but it was all ok, because they'd just throw a bundle of cash at the owner on the way out to pay for the damage.

So it's not rioters that are bad, it's poor rioters.

Of course, I'm not saying he did it, just that he was part of a club, and members of that club did those things, I'm just stating facts in a certain way, a bit like the Express.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Also, just as an aside, there's been many surveys showing that the wider the gap between rich and poor, the unhappier a nation is. Poorer countries can be happier than richer ones, provided the gap isn't too large.

I think the gap continually getting larger, and so much harder to move across to the rich side,is a big part of the unrest, many young people are realising that no matter what they do, they're likely to end up in a dead end job on near minimum wage, for life, and they know it could be better. That's no excuse for rioting, but I can understand the unrest.

 

[Kahldris71]

This is another idea that has already been done in another country, IE Canada. Here in the good ole north, in order to graduate from high school you are forced to complete 40 arbitrary hours of community service. Instead of "ingraining in me a slice of compassion towards my fellow man" it just made me hate wasting 40 hours of my time, because all the students being forced to do it made anything that actually felt like accomplishing something were gone fast. I ended up putting stickers on some companies filing. It was a for profit company and didn?t actually help the community. So i worked for free for 40 hours. Total waste of my time. This shouldn?t be brought to fruition in England because it didn?t work here, it most definitely will just foster resentment from the teenage population. They will also find ways to bypass it, just as we have. In the end it?s a politician trying to make himself look good.

End Rant.

 

[Danny Roberts]

*snip*

1. Edit that post. You'll get wrathed if you don't.

2. I kinda agree with you. I went extreme, that was a mistake. But still, the idea of forced work with no pay just seems ridiculous, and yes, akin to slavery in some aspects.

3 I also read the whole article past the kneejerk reaction of the OP, so in conclusion: nvm.

yeah I just got my hand slapped. Sensitive at the escapist they are.

 

[Astoria]

...what. Yes that's a good way to stop rioting. Make all teens do community service, even the ones that haven't done anything wrong their whole lives. This is pretty much him saying we've screwed up so we'll make teens pay for it because nobody cares about them.

 

[Sir Shockwave]

Welcome to England! We're only an inch and half away from an Orwellian Society, instead ruled over by an incompetent Jackass!

...At least I didn't vote for him.

 

[ParkourMcGhee]

Who can say "STARSHIP TROOPERS"?

Nooo thank you. Not only that but as with most stuff this is fairly blanket and unlikely to work.

For the ones that WOULD do this, there already exists a "Duke of Edinburgh", for those that aren't this isn't going to help anybody.

I would say "more jobs, more education, and more police that know exactly how to do their job, and they are doing a fantastic job on their own", but that's like asking candy to rain from the sky, so I'll just wait for people who "know how to fix this" try their hand at running the country in to the ground, while I work on an international work visa and my degree.

 

[SillyBear]

The PM is obviously trying to blame anyone but himself for the social unrest.

Right, because it is his fault that a bunch of divs burnt down their own town. Because we all know people have no self autonomy and everything that some piece of shit decides to do with his free time is really the Prime Minister's fault. It ain't his fault that parts of London consist of opportunistic, selfish people.

If this is Cameron's fault, then all the good things that the UK does must be because of him too. Funny, it never seems to work that way though, does it?

People should start taking responsibility for their own fucking actions and stop acting like a bunch of selfish cry babies. "It's not my fault I smashed a man's business up! It's David Cameron's!"

No, it's your fault. No one else's. Take responsibility.

edit: I love how people have taken this as David Cameron trying to force teenagers to do community service. He said they should make it available. Don't get me wrong, I do not like this man at all - but that doesn't mean we can turn to sensationalism.

 

[Cazza]

My school put in place a program where every student neeeded to do 20 hours community serice to pass school. My year was the first year to have to do it. About a month before passing 12yr they ditched the program. To many student would have failed.

I find what your Prime Minister?s doing wrong. Throwing the blame completely on teenagers. Really how many teenagers were rioting. Make everyone above 16 do it then it's fair.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Wow, a man with not one foot in the real world suggesting that forcing people to do something will improve their attitude! Amazing!

 

[FernandoV]

The PM is obviously trying to blame anyone but himself for the social unrest.

Right, because it is his fault that a bunch of divs burnt down their own town. Because we all know people have no self autonomy and everything that some piece of shit decides to do with his free time is really the Prime Minister's fault. It ain't his fault that parts of London consist of opportunistic, selfish people.

If this is Cameron's fault, then all the good things that the UK does must be because of him too. Funny, it never seems to work that way though, does it?

People should start taking responsibility for their own fucking actions and stop acting like a bunch of selfish cry babies. "It's not my fault I smashed a man's business up! It's David Cameron's!"

No, it's your fault. No one else's. Take responsibility.

edit: I love how people have taken this as David Cameron trying to force teenagers to do community service. He said they should make it available. Don't get me wrong, I do not like this man at all - but that doesn't mean we can turn to sensationalism.

Oh yea, poor him. What a bother it must have been to have to address the situation after it's been going on for days. You praise people for the good they do and scold them for the bad. The government is expected to provide the service of containing and controlling events like these.

 

[Horben]

40 hours' community service were compulsory for me to graduate high school in Ontario. It was kind of a pain but hey. Wasn't too hard. Did some volunteering, worked at my school library, and so on.

It's just too bad that Cameron is such a jerk that everything he says makes me want to disagree with him.

 

[karamazovnew]

Don't know about you brits, but for my country I say community service should be compulsory for people wanting social benefits. And military service (at least 6 months) should be compulsory for anyone who wants to vote. That's how it used to be... Back then you went to college knowing why. Right now you go there because your parents might cut your club money.

 

[Ghostkai]

He has called for every 16 year old to have compulsory community service as a rite of passage.

Except, he hasn't. He said he wants to make it avaliable to everyone after 30,000 people volunteered this summer,showing the scheme to be quite successful.

It's THE PAPER (your source) and Boris Johnson, that want it to be compulsory. They've [The Paper] been campaigning for it back since Labour were in power.

I for one am for it, heck, I wish they had it when I was a teen (I'm 23), it would look great on a CV/University application.

Did people even read the article? Or did they just read the Thread title and draw conclusions. This happen way too often on the Escapist I swear.

 

[Charli]

No I disagree, I think this is a good thing, you're not going to learn any appreciation for community unless you know the hard work it entails to maintain it. Some schools force community service on students chasing early college entry and I think it does them a world of good.

This whole "OH U TORIES" thing has to end somewhere... and I see absolutely no harm in kicking the youth of Britain into a little bit of clean up here and there. I did it, I didn't find it 'damaging' to my psyche. Now suck it up and get to work you handed out to little gits.

For fucks sake people it's community service, COMMUNITY. I know that word is all but dead in the U.K. but get over it. It's supposed to help and benefit everyone. If you ARE living off benefit this is the least you can bloody do.

 

[8a88leph1sh]

This is basically putting jobs meant for criminals in the hands of teenagers

Whoa whoa whoa. You meant to say helping others is a job meant for criminals? It called community service because you are servicing the community. Breaking rocks and stamping licence plates are jobs meant for criminals. You could call it volunteer work and it would be the same thing. LOTS of people who are not criminals do this kind of work and actually enjoy it. I too come from Ontario where all high school kids are required to give 40 hours to the community before they get a diploma. I don't think there is anything wrong with that.

I could not have said it any better. I don't understand how "community service" has been associated with "punishment." Most like Cameron has seen mass youths without a strong sense of direction and wants to divert their energy into something productive. This includes those who "kept their head down" as I saw someone else in this thread say. Most major countries are in crisis right now, asking young people (or frankly anyone) to help improve the community and the lives of others sounds like a absolutely positive thing. I wish they'd do it in the US too. A national service program also sounds brilliant

A wise man once said: "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."

 

[Arbi Trax]

While Cameron has used a sledgehammer to crack a nut on this case, I wouldn't dismiss the idea of some sort of "Doing good for the community" thing as an extra-curricular activity in school.

I volunteered in various things in my community when I was a teenager, and now I care about where I live, and want to keep it that way.

Try it! Volunteering's good for the soul. Not in the religious way, that is. When you find yourself alone with your thoughts as you are drifting off to sleep, and you start thinking about yourself and your place in the world, you get a good feeling.

Tl:dr - It's nice to be nice, but enforced niceness leads to resentment.

 

[Kenny Kondom]

Meh, it's an idea that wont be adopted due to the freedoms kids/teens have now-a-days. They can just flat out refuse.

But it is still a nice gesture, but that is all. a political stunt.

Plus as many people have already stated in this thread, it wasn't a riot. A riot has the national unrest of the public behind it. A guy whom was under the watch of Armed police got shot. Obviously he gave them reason to do so, and wouldn't have happened at all if he had been following the law. But something gave the police reasonable doubt, so screw him tbf.

I'm not a conservative, not in the least, but the idea of bringing some sort of compulsory community work is a good one. From the age of 15 to 20, i had a job (two jobs at one stage). It taught me to not only respect money, and not to get myself into debt, but also valuable employment skills and techniques. Where would be the problem in giving young people the chance to attain a job, and if none could be found, ask them to contribute a Sat or a Sun community job to better themselves and their neighbourhood?

... But then i highly doubt we would be able to get the 'yobbish' behaiviour shown by the majority of teens now. Too far gone down that path for it to be reverted. [My statement is founded upon me having a job as, what is essentially, a 'dinnerlady', and recieving no respect or gratitude from those i was charged with looking after at lunchtime].

 

[TheLoneBeet]

I don't think it's that bad an idea. I had to do 40 hours of mandatory community service to graduate high school and I don't think it was that bad. It's not like it hurts to go out and help some people or clean up a park or something.