I know several Germans in my village alone who are there simply to avoid doing national/civil service. It's slavery.

It isn't slavery, they do get paid...

Demos should piss off back to orbiting Mars with his mate Phobos.
Coming down 'ere, chatting all like 'I like don't like educamation innit?'
Gets right on my wick.
Typical bloody moons.

It's involuntary, therefore it's slavery.

It's the same in Finland, a year in service or a year of civic duty.

So the Finns makes slaves of people too, what's your point?

This is isn't a dig at you , why in God's name would I effectively serve a bunch of [LIFTED] politicians, short of another world war or something I actually fully believed in? The (would be) politicians of course, would almost certainly have found some way out of it themselves...

I grew up in what many people considered a war zone, I have no desire to take orders and I wouldn't expect anyone else to either, just to serve some nutty notion of how it'll all make the country a nicer place etc.

Sorry, yeah, I should've just quoted big_D there.

Anyhoo, yes the Finns have the year in the Forces or Civic Duty if they prefer. However, they only pay a nominal fee for University Education that for all intents and purposes is free AFAIK.

I would have happily done a year for the funding of my University degree. That year doesn't involve combat duty BTW if you choose the Forces. Civic Duty, from what I've heard, is very rewarding but they don't pay for the privilege.

No, it isn't. Your definition is entirely wrong. The idea of slavery is not 'people who are forced to work' it is the idea 'of people who are owned as property'. The point of a slave is not that they work or that they are forced to but that they are owned by some other person and have no rights as a person themselves.

Are people doing community service in the UK as part of a criminal sentence 'slaves'? No, of course they aren't. But they're being forced to work - in this case as a consequence of a criminal conviction. Your use of the word 'slave' is inappropriate and frankly bordering on the gratuitous. There are in fact still slaves in some parts of the world (not least in the enforced prostitution industry) and they'd see having to clear ditches wearing a flourescent jacket as being a pretty bloody cushy life thank you very much.

Jon

Perhaps it should be the other way, people who didn't go to university, thus making it more difficult for the government to reach it's "we need X% of people in higher education" target, should do community service as they will typically have lower paid jobs and can't otherwise contribute as much to the country through taxes...

No? Thought not...

It should be either everybody or nobody...

The German system is relatively fair, IMHO, everybody must do it; before they go to Uni or try and get a job, so it doesn't discriminate.

OK fine, forced labour then. That doesn't make it any more acceptable. What right does HMG have to tell people what to do? Community Service is a punishment for a crime, what have ordinary folk done to deserve such [LIFTED]?

I'm just playing Devil's Advocate here, but I guess it depends how you look at it. I mean plenty of people do Voluntary work.

Also, imagine what a disciplined year with a well balanced diet and exercise may do for the UK society. It seems to help in other Nations.

Like I say though, Devil's Advocate, I can't honestly say what my opinion is as I'm not 100% sure I would see those points when I was a 17/18 year old and I know it's far to easy to make decisions on what's best for teenagers when you no longer are one.

Rather than targeting graduates to 'give something back' (we bloody do anyway!), how about they go for the lay-about jobless waste of space benefit claiming scum for a bit of 'community service'!

I dont mean the unfortunates who lose a job in a recession and need a bit of help either. I'm talking about those for whom claiming benefits and not working is a lifestyle choice. Especially those admitting to be 'better off' on benefits.