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Conflicted training
2 Jul2009
There has been a lot of pomp since the election of Barack Obama that we were going to see “volunteerism” and “giving back” reach unprecedented levels. Obama made volunteerism a centerpiece in his campaign and since being elected has kicked off a website (serve.gov) that points potential volunteers to opportunities where they can serve their government. The First Lady just kicked off a summer initiative in San Francisco to encourage more people to volunteer their time and skills for their communities.
In the meantime, we have a growing number of school systems throughout the country that are paying students just to show up to class. Some schools have even resorted to handing out prizes such as iPods, concert tickets, etc. just for having a perfect attendance. Never mind the grades, just show up…please!
Michelle Rhee, Chancellor for DC public schools has also incorporated a similar rewards program.
So here’s my question: If children are being told at a very young age that they will be rewarded just for showing up, how does that inspire them later to want to volunteer or give back? And if they do decide to volunteer their time, will they give their best, or will their services be predicated on the reward?
- In: Politics| Question
- Tags: Barack Obama, First Lady, Michelle Rhee, Politics, school, serve.gov, volunteer
3 Responses to Conflicted training
daveUSA
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:07 am
Duane, I agree that volunteering is good and a worth while thing to do. I believe it should be done by an individual alone or through some private organization and not in connection with the government; although the state or local gov’t could point out where the most need is. The type of volunteering should be to help people help themselves and not just do something for them. I guess we are talking black, in this instance, so I think it would be wise that if it is white people doing the helping, they should be in the back ground as much as possible, for various reasons; Non-whites should be more hands on. The helpee, he shouldn’t, feel less inferior, more likely accept the help and it would be a good roll model for the helpee.
Just my 2 cents.
daveUSA
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:32 am
I guess I didn’t answer the question that was asked did I.
For me, of course they should not be rewarded for just showing up. There could be some good come from it like maybe they might do more than just show up and that would be of some benefit but most would, I think, just show up or always expect the reward. So I think the net gain would be negative. For the very same reason that if you are sentenced to 5 years in prison you shouldn’t get time off for doing what you were suppose to do; the prisoner should be given more time if he does cause trouble. That might sound kind of harsh but, I believe, in the long run the would be good for the prisoner when he gets out and has to deal with society.
saudia
July 6th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
I’ll say this about the prisoner thing. Incarceration is not a deterrent. So longer sentences or longer periods for bad behavior don’t work. But I digress. For me the jury is still out on if we should be paying kids to show up. How many of us go to work each day and spend the entire day on the internet. In those cases didn’t we get paid just for showing up? In the case where a child is living in poverty maybe these few dollars will be their motivation for going to school and not dropping out to help support or lessen the burden on the parent. Again these are just things that pop in my head at 1st glance in regard to this subject. BTW… I think it is far more harmful to children when we don’t keep score on the soccer field. Give out awards to the entire team even though some are not very good. Or fire coaches because their team won 100-0….