David Cameron calls for all teens to do community service.

[Hugga_Bear]

OP is perhaps unintentionally misleading the readers into thinking this is forced in any way.

Through the use of language like "Community service" which is generally considered to be mandatory, and his personal comment which appears to imply that it's mandatory also.

David Cameron just wants teenagers to volunteer to clean shit up. It's a weird, face-saving idea but it's not that evil.

Perhaps but the idea is no better.

Okay so it's good that Cameron doesn't want people to have to do to community service as some sort of broad punishment for the actions of a few. That is good.

What's not is that this is his suggestion. Like somehow if they would only do a little volunteer work they'd be fine, jobs would appear for them and their futures would be solid. Right?

It makes no sense, from any perspective. It would be nice if they all volunteered but it's unrealistic and completely missing the point which for me further emphasises just how naive and childlike Cameron is.

Volunteer work won't make people happy, it won't give them jobs to go to, or a source of income or even help towards that (though it looks okay on a CV, nowadays it's not enough). This suggestion infers that it has nothing to do with government policy (surprise surprise) or is the fault of anything or anyone but the youth.
An extremely harmful and dangerous approach to take. The 'riots' (I prefer looting but okay) were perpetrated by small groups who wanted to nick stuff, this is obvious because of the targets themselves, electronics stores, sports stores and so on. Exempting the lad that nicked a bag of rice (wrong curry's mate) it's not like we're dealing with people who are starving and destitute, they wanted more games and so on. HOWEVER.

This is to avoid the horrifically complex sociological and political reasons behind the riots, many of which are a direct result of policies instigated by this government as well as the rhetoric it spews out. They may well ignore it now but if they continue to do so I fear it won't be opportunists and thugs stealing a few objects, they may piss the people off enough for some real damage.

 

[Baneat]

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."

I think he meant:

The criminals in this riot-fiasco should have repairing it be part of their punishment, since they're the ones that broke the shit.

 

[RatRace123]

As an adult, I say I'm all for this!

Kids today need to learn some respect, back when I was sixteen in the far flung year of 2008, we had respect for our elders and our countries dammit! We didn't cause any riots, and we never did these flash mob looting sprees. Hell, Twitter was barely a thing back then, just the noise that a mentally challenged bird might make. You kids today with your damn ipad 2s, in my day there was just the ipod, and we liked it dammit! We regularly shat our pants when we stopped and marveled at the technology we had before us. And don't even get me started on the KFC double down, it was only available in the south before the colonel's legion decided that the entire goddamn country should get fat as well. And you got things easier than I ever did, I had to walk fifty miles to get to school every day, in the snow, naked... granted that was all due to personal choice but the point still stands!

So the least you whipper-snappers can do is clean up the mess your generation makes, I ain't gettin' any younger and I don't want to see the world be a garbage dump when I die.

 

[Baneat]

As an adult, I say I'm all for this!

Kids today need to learn some respect, back when I was sixteen in the far flung year of 2008, we had respect for our elders and our countries dammit! We didn't cause any riots, and we never did these flash mob looting sprees. Hell, Twitter was barely a thing back then, just the noise that a mentally challenged bird might make. You kids today with your damn ipad 2s, in my day there was just the ipod, and we liked it dammit! We regularly shat our pants when we stopped and marveled at the technology we had before us. And don't even get me started on the KFC double down, it was only available in the south before the colonel's legion decided that the entire goddamn country should get fat as well. And you got things easier than I ever did, I had to walk fifty miles to get to school every day, in the snow, naked... granted that was all due to personal choice but the point still stands!

So the least you whipper-snappers can do is clean up the mess your generation makes, I ain't gettin' any younger and I don't want to see the world be a garbage dump when I die.

Well, SOMEONE's going to get their house egged on hallowe'en

 

[FateOrFatality]

I'm sixteen, and I've been doing community service since I was twelve. I'm just a really good person, and you should all be ashamed.

Haha, just kidding. My school makes us do it, and it is boring as hell.

 

[hooksashands]

Maybe when young people start getting elected, this will come full circle in a weird way and they'll make old people collect their social security for a few months.

 

[SillyBear]

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.

....

And this is the kind of bullshit that lead to the riots happening in the first place. "The government is expected to do this..." "this is the government's fault..."

No. You cannot expect any organisation, whether it be a part time security business or the governance of the United Kingdom to be able to automatically contain wide spread rioting. You would do no better than they have in this situation. This is a deep seeded problem, but ultimately the blame goes to those who are lighting people's houses on fire. The blame does not fall on the polititicans.

People don't take responsibility for their actions anymore, and your post is complete proof of this. Even when confronted with outrageous crime and reckless disregard for ownership and value - you still say it's the governments fault. You ignore the scumbags who are out doing this to get new televisions, and you say it's all the fault of some average politician.

Maybe these people should look in the mirror and evaluate themselves, instead of lighting houses on fire saying "LOOK WHAT THE GOVERNMENT MADE ME DO".

With this kind of attitude, nothing would ever be accomplished. It's a repeat cycle of selfish nonsense and no one will ever stand up and take responsibility.

But you know what really upsets me about your rhetoric? It's the fact that you fucking believe these rioters. You believe them when they say "It's because of the rich!" or "it's because of the government and the conservatives!". You fall for that?

I tell you why they are rioting. Because all their friends are and they want a new plasma TV. These people are idiots. They are not like V from V for Vendetta. They are not like John Trumbull. They're opportunistic div kids.

You want to know what these people are like, take a look:


(If you can't see the video, this gang of people beat this kid up, broke his jaw, pretended to help him back up and rob him again).

Yeah, Viva La Revolution! Fuck those politicians!

--

Don't get me wrong, I agree with you about the fact that there are serious problems in this country. And yes, part of the blame does fall on the way the government has seemed to disillusioned the youth of the country. But the real people to blame are the idiots who think it is okay to light local business on fire and murder people because they don't like David Cameron.

And they my friend, are idiots. We cannot ignore this. We cannot pass the book. We cannot pass the blame.

 

[Cain_Zeros]

Now, this voluntary option, not terrible, but probably won't change a whole lot of anything once the mess from the riots are cleaned up. The mandatory service The Daily Express was apparently pushing for a while back, would result in a lot of really pissed off teenagers, which is probably part of why the previous government said "fuck that noise".

 

[albear]

This is a good idea, but it does give off the wrong appearance,

I think in German at that age its compulsary to either join the armed forces for a bit or do community service.

and people are getting outraged at this?,

its meant to give young people growing up a sense of belonging to their community.

its not a punishment even if the timing does make it seem like one.

 

[ZRendZ]

Really David Cameron? We (The ones who actually give a shit about earning a living etc.) Work our asses off at school just so you can make us work more because of what a bunch of cunts are doing? here's an idea free of charge, You know those thousand odd people that were in the riots? yeah them! Make them do it, They're the ones who complaining about lack of money and lack of jobs. at least then those who were involved have something to do with their time instead of harassing old women. I hated the riots as much as you do but it doesn't mean you have the right to force me to clean up shit not caused by me but by irresponsible douches who... surprise surprise get off squot free.

 

[AngloDoom]

"If you break it, buy it."

It's really that simple, make the people who were rioting fix the damage they did. They wanted jobs, they've got one.

EDIT -

I'm not actually against the idea of getting kids into some sort of work-ethic at a young age, but wielding the idea like a weapon against young-people for no other reason than hysterical hoodie-fear just flaunts the fact that people in England seemed to be scared shitless of teenagers because the telly tells them to be.

 

[scar_47]

Compulsary community service isn't going to change anything you just making them do work for x amount of hours reall its just going to aggregate those that don't want to do it, I had to complete 40 hours of community service as a graduation requirement you know what I did I lied I helped a friend do some stuff and inflated the hours why because I thought it was a stupid arbitrarily requirement that I would get nothing out of. The problem doesn't lie with the teens its the system where the people are brought up believeing that anything is owed to them that their claim of a need justifies their right to the work of those more capable until the moral code is changed nothing else will do any good.

 

[Loonyyy]

Not being from Britain, my opinion isn't worth anything on the topic but I'll say it anyway: if you want to force mandatory community service, first force yourself to do it. Blaming an entire age group is discrimination and stupid. Everyone should help out in their community, but being good and helping others is a choice. F*** the British Premier. If he wants that sort of s*** done, he can do it himself.

 

[Togs]

Quite frankly Mister Cameron you can go fuck yourself.

You fuck us over and then want us to do your dirty work?

It is my greatest wish for you to die in the most brutal, painful fashion possible.

 

[M01070X]

so he's raised tuition fees and now hes asking the people he's fucked over with that choice to work for free. you have to be a special kind of **** to do that

 

[kilativ15]

This is how WW2 happened :/

 

[Joshey Woshey]

Fuck off, wanker. I wasn't even there. A bit strong perhaps? Why don't we get all the people who live in the areas hit most by rioting who have been on dole for 5+ years and make them earn their dole?

 

[maninahat]

Bad idea. Basically it turns potentially paying jobs into something which kids do for free. If they turned it into a paying job which teens could easily get into, now that would be an idea. Helps combat unemployment and gives teens a reason to make an effort. I can't imagine most MPs ever being tempted to pick coke cans off of a roadside, yet here they are expecting kids to not only do that, but also somehow grow enamoured with society for making them do it.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

Snip

That is what Obama wants to do here in the US. He wants to make community service mandatory for graduation from high school.

It is stupid and there really is no point to it. It's not like teenagers don't have enough on their plate with everything else high school has that is already mandatory.

Heck, high schools here are so full of required testing strategies and homework loads, that when I got to college, I found college a breeze compared to high school. Combining class and homework, there is 10 to 15 times less work in college, plus the bonus of around one-fourth the class time compared to high school.

Back on topic, community service is for criminals, and people that have nothing better to do with their lives.

People might say that teenagers have nothing better to do with their lives, but I say they have to take that time to be teenagers. Not working in some stuffy shelter or picking up trash along the road.

I like what you said though, turning those community service works into paying jobs.

I need a job, and I know the only way I would do community service is if I was getting paid for it.

The problem is that if they did that here in the US, it would just be like all the other jobs that employers are hiring for, which required stupid amounts of experience that only the old people have, or people that have had the experience, but of course aren't looking for jobs because they already have one.

The job ads would read:

Soup kitchen:
6 hours, five days a week.
Applicants must have 3 to 5 years of soup serving experience.

Roadway Trash Collector Sanitation Engineer:
8 hours, five days a week.
Applicants must have 3 to 5 years of roadway trash collecting experience.
Also, need five references from people that saw you pick up said trash.

 

[Rawne1980]

Just a quick note to all teenagers getting pissed at this.

Take a good long look at your parents and older siblings and various other family members over the age of 18.

Keep looking at them.

Look a bit more.

Remember it's their fucking fault for voting that twat in.

A lot of us remember how shit it was last time we had a tory government. They only help the upper end of the wealth scale. Education was only for those that could afford it. Working class folks, forget university, you'll never see it.

Problem is they won't fucking learn. Yeah Labour fucked up but was there a need to fuck the rest of us over so you could "prove a point".

I don't blame Cameron at all for any of his policies, it's what the tory's have always done. I blame the wank stains that voted him in.