Call about HR 1388 Today

The GIVE or the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act will eliminate community based learn and serve programs. Instead it establishes a college level service-learning agenda and another research program that studies and implements similar plans in the primary and secondary levels of education. It makes the federal government the locus for service and organizes our children into a corps of “volunteers.”

There are many things wrong with this approach, not the least of which is that coerced service is not volunteerism. There is the question of expense and effectiveness. Then there is the big problem of its constitutionality, like, does it force citizens into involuntary servitude?

This act will come up for vote tomorrow, so today is the day to let your representative know how you stand.

On a personal note, this is but the latest fad to emerge from “academentia.” The university where I once taught jumped on the bandwagon and insisted that all freshmen participate in a community workday. Even on that level, the program was grossly mismanaged. They assigned an assisted living center to my group, but would not allow anyone tell the students what to expect or give specific instructions beforehand. So most kids stood around in uncomfortable clusters, watching the patients instead of interacting with them. I hate to think of the silly rules and restrictions coming down the pike when the planners are even further removed from the place of action.