North Chicago Community High School
I am writing in regard to the forced labor program required for graduation. I understand that this may sound like a good idea, but there is only one thing that will affect this...The Constitution of the United States. Yeah I know it sometimes gets in the way of crazy people doing crazy things, regardless of what laws were passed or court rulings. It is my belief that the above mentioned program is in violation of the Constitution (specifically the 13th amendment), thus making it Illegal to require. I have explained this to my child and it is up to them to choose whether or not they will “Volunteer” (yeah, I know another crazy word) to participate in your forced labor program.
Forcing children to volunteer, then having the parents sign a waiver that release’s you “the school” from any and all liability, is just nonsense. If you force someone to do something then you should take full responsibility. Kind of like the Vietnam War, “volunteers” were drafted, and though not very well, at least are being taken care of by the people who forced them to “volunteer”.
The forced labor program is a bad idea for schools. Although teaching students in high school to volunteer in the community is a good idea, creating a systematic requirement to force teenagers to perform this service is a mistake. Volunteerism is an important value to pass on to teenagers, but parents, not teachers, should be delivering the message. Giving to others shouldn't be a prerequisite for anything, much less a quantifiable requirement that students can fulfill by submitting forms. The message one sends when one tries to quantify altruism is unsettling. "Mandatory volunteerism" is a bald faced oxymoron. Students should be learning to help others. But schools must encourage, not force, their students to act on values parents should already have instilled in their kids.
The following is no exaggeration but historical fact: The Hitler Youth Groups were exactly this kind of organization and if one expected to get anywhere in pre-World War II Germany it was mandatory to join these volunteer groups.
At the root of all of this is the idea that no person is truly free. You don't own your life. The State owns your life. The government decides what is good by majority vote or by dictators' whim. It is up to the individual to sacrifice for others and to conform to the masses or be imprisoned or worse. It is the refried politics of socialism arisen from the mass graves of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia where the silent voices of more than 100 million dead will never speak out against it.
Free people have to be free to choose or else the concept of freedom has no meaning.
Sincerely,
Joe
I never received a response back