[alphachiohmy]

This is my editorial in favor of compulsory education. Please offer feedback. Now, I have to write one against the idea. Back to MS Word I go. Pls remembre, this is not my belief, but I had to argue this solidly. Please let me know if I have done that.

The United States is the land of the free, but our freedoms have come too quickly and too easily to today’s youth. They are without discipline, without character and without leadership.

A compulsory service requirement would remedy that and result in a generation of more responsible and more reliable young adults.

We believe a year of service should be required of all youth in the United States as they graduate high school or turn 18. They would be required to enter the armed forces or a government-based service program like Americorps or the Peace Corps. They would be paid minimally, provided with living accommodations and eligible for college tuition assistance.

This program could be in place in as little as four years, giving the U.S. government ample time to organize a service program and rules and regulations.

Currently, there are no compulsory military service laws in the United States. The idea of forced service, which had been required during times of war, was reestablished in the United States in 1940, as the country prepared to enter World War II. This draft remained law through the 1960s. In 1973, President Richard Nixon suspended the draft; in the late 1970s Congress completely ceased the practice.

The strength of the United States military has suffered since the elimination of the draft. According to U.S. Department of Defense's personnel statistics, the combined number of men and women serving in the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force dropped 32 percent between 1980 and 2000.

U.S. citizens have an obligation to the country. It is each citizen’s national duty to work in defending the nation or working for peace in the name of the United States. Unfortunately, today’s youth are strangers to patriotism. The do not know how lucky they are to live in our country. We believe required service would instill in them a greater sense of pride in the nation.
A required service would also help give others a greater understanding of the function of the military. Currently, there is a rough relationship between civilian and military life. Civilians once out of service would have a better respect for their countrymen as well as their nation when such service is required.

People against compulsory service argue that such a requirement would infringe on the human rights of our citizens. But the country has already instated compulsory education. Like compulsory education, a service requirement is essential to the United States. If there were no compulsory education laws, illiteracy would run rampant. Well, in today’s youth laziness and irresponsibility run rampant. The perfect solution to that would be a required term of service.

Like lessons in a classroom, lessons from compulsory service are integral and invaluable.

A required term of service would give youth today the tools they need to be responsible, contributing members of society. They would learn leadership skills from negotiating a training course in Army basic training. They would learn compassion by working with inner city school children or by feeding the homeless. They would learn how to make decisions on their own. They would learn how to work as a team and how to function on their own as individuals. They would have a better sense of themselves and humankind as a whole.

A year of compulsory service would also add maturity to decisions that young adults make in regard to their futures. Today, college graduates have squeaked by college classes and enter the work force dumbfounded. Statistics have shown that a significant number of people make several career changes and decisions after obtaining college degrees. With a year of required service, youth would be in much better shape to attend college. After a year of service, a young adult would enter a university with a much better understanding of who they are and what they wanted his or her career to be. Their education on the books would supplement the real-life education gained in serving the nation.

And that education gained from compulsory service would result in new generations of patriotic, determined and strong citizens with a great love of the United States. Our nation would be stronger, better and more prepared for the future.