Posted on 05/04/2013 9:54:14 PM PDT by MacMattico
So it seems daughters school is stressing "service hours" (volunteer hours) as the only way to get into a decent college. Daughter has high grades in every class, has a full course load, band, two varsity sports and a couple of clubs. More then I ever did and I went to a respectable institution of higher learning! And... Gasp... May even have to get a job in a year or so when she wants that car she keeps talking about!
But no! Not enough! Now the school demands, and backs it up with college admissions material, that kids must have at least 300 hours of community services by graduation. My daughter has helped in the community but is not interested in the liberal nonsense being demanded. For instance, a group of kids sat out in make shift cardboard box "houses" overnight sneaking in pizza and fooling around and got 8 hours of community service for "learning what it's like to be homeless". Seriously! Daughters Guidance Counselor even said "In this world where colleges are taking an holistic approach at admissions, as a non-minority middle class kid you can't just expect to coast by on your excellent grades and a few sports and clubs." Shouldn't you be helping others because you want to, not because the school system demands we create more liberal community organizers? I feel like they're pushing kids to lie and make up fake service hours!
“Well, we like to have family time “
Try to find something where you and your daughter can both volunteer. My daughter and I volunteered on a political campaign together. This fit right in with her admissions essay that was also political and supported very conservative views. Not only did she get into a very good school in DC, she received a very healthy university scholarship.
I thought that the slavery thing ended in the 1860’s, yes?
When I was in high school, my community service involved working (a lot) while in high school so that I could afford to go to college (and then, there were no “earned income credits, so these were real taxes). So, does paying taxes to help those “less fortunate” count as “community service” these days? Probably not, I’ll bet.
Perhaps this is an organized distraction to keep the heat off of the glaring problem of teen-age unemployment.
I actually did help out recently at a work-sponsored charity event. Your observation was correct - it is a GREAT way to meet women! Unfortunately, I was not in a position to take advantage of this.
“It’s not all bad. I think its turning a lot of kids into conservatives. Don’t let them do the fun stuff, make them work at things like soup kitchens or events where they give free food to people. My friends kid got a good lesson working at a food give away things. He got to see the dregs of humanity shambling in fat fat and fat, being incredibly rude and disrespectful, demanding help bringing food to their car despite being perfectly fit and when a legitimate old lady with a walker is in obvious need, constantly complaining about obviously fake disabilities , taking more stuff than was offered. I asked him what percentage of the people there were in his opinion legitimate needs, and he estimated less than 10%. He came away from all of these things totally disgusted, especially at the lack of manners and sense of entitlement.”
Good observation - I never considered this. Ill bet it looked a lot different than the cleaned-up, polished version shown on TV.
Hi, MacMattico! Yes, the SSL is a pain. My son refers to it as “socialist slave labor”... meaning they work and don’t get paid. Our state (MD) requires 75 hours but everyone “knows” that many colleges want more. I do believe 300 is the magic number to aim for (and some get into the 1,000+ range for scholarships). Of course, this would have been relatively easy if she started in middle school. If she didn’t, there should be pre-approved SSL jobs online or via your school. If not, any nursing home usually would adore high school kids to simply interact with the patients. She will have to get a TB test but one of their nurses will do that if you prefer. Weekends may be a great time for her and she can just assume every Saturday can build up hours. Does you school have its own volunteer club? If so, that serves two purposes: they get the SSL and it can be put down on her college application as belonging to a school club.
Do I agree with it? Absolutely not. However, “it is what it is”. Look at it as simply something to check off and be done with. If your daughter is starting late (meaning Junior year of high school), contact her guidance counselor or the person that approves the SSL. Have either a nice telephone call or request a meeting and ask them to guide her to get the 300 hours. Some hours are simple to get.. others are a PIA. Hope this helps.. Mom
we’ve got the same garbage going on at our school, it is a plot to get people used to working for nothing
My kid hated school, but tested high. He attended 4 years but did not graduate (one reason was he had mononucleosis in his junior year and once you have had that you are messed up for about a year). He took the GED without “studying” and passed with flying colors.
You just gave me the idea.............my daughter is going on a ten day mission trip this summer and I am gong to have her submit it to her administration for credit.
“You got nothing out of it? No lessons learned”.
I just had to comment on this... yes, they do get something out of it. They get a taste of socialism and I will explain why. When my son (and now daughter) first started to volunteer, they quickly realized that the goal of the school vs what they learned were two different things. The goal is to “help” people, clean up a pond, serve food at a homeless shelter etc.. What they learned was that their time was being mandated to work (with no pay or benefits) to support a non profit organization that the schools okayed. For example, no volunteer hours are permitted for church activities unless it is a soup kitchen that feeds everyone. They learned that since they were non-paid volunteers, they were sometimes asked to do “yucky” things because the paid workers didn’t want to do it. So...yes... they did learn something. They learned that forced labor in the name of “volunteer” work is nothing more than symbolism over substance. If you think that is a bit harsh... think like this> let’s say the government mandated that you volunteered at the same type activities. The list is restricted... no church activities and only not for profit companies. Now, if you don’t do it.. something won’t be granted to you (i.e. your high school degree). From what I hear from a huge group of middle schoolers and high schoolers... they hate the idea.
College bound, CPR ready — Law mandates high school grads be prepared for cardiac emergencies
New legislation in North Carolina is requiring all high school students in the state to complete CPR training in order to graduate. Signed by Gov. Beverly Perdue in July, the law passed with 115 of 119 votes. CPR instruction will be rolled into Healthful Living, a required physical education course.
The law states high school students, beginning with the Class of 2015, must be instructed in first aid and emergency care, including CPR and the Heimlich maneuver, using nationally recognized programs such as those from the American Red Cross and American Heart Association.
http://news.nurse.com/article/20121105/SC02/111120033
Just label it a "women's self protection class" and the school will have to accept it. Ha!
Parents don’t let your sons and daughters go into debt to go to college, please. And let’s see, this one is on the hamster wheel running so hard she doesn’t really have time to do any thinking, does she? Perfect!! Government can get on with its fascist agenda and no one will notice!
BTDT. Sure, there’s a lot that is ridiculous in trying to graduate and get into a good college but she has to play the game. The number of hours sounds daunting but it’s fairly easy to accomplish. Mine had way over 300 hours without going out of their way. Many of her normal school activities and clubs will have volunteer projects so those count. Our National Honor Society required X hours so those hours can be counted for college volunteer hours. Same with 4H, scouting, church, rock club or whatever outside of school organization volunteering your daughter is involved with. Same with community events that the whole family is helping with like the VFD garage sales and fish fries or park clean up days. Mine would enter baking contests during community festivals and then donate the boatload of goodies to the nursing home afterward. It all adds up quickly. Mine volunteered each year at the library’s little kid summer reading program. Their “self motivated” and “self organized” (colleges like those terms, sigh) projects included an annual drive for the animal shelter. They’d put up signs around the neighborhood, have drop off containers at the curb and went door to door for a couple weekends for material items on the shelter’s wish list. Being an annual event, the neighbors began to expect it which was an easy win-win for all and the shelter would get a truck load of supplies every year.
On the flip side, her good will toward others may come back to her in the form of scholarships. Scholarship organizations like to see volunteer hours, too. There are scholarships out there specifically looking at where your daughter volunteered. Sometimes there’s a scholarship looking for students who helped their local animal shelter (or wherever) so she applies and they give her a nice scholarship and as a bonus they also write a check to the shelter so everyone wins.
My homeschooled daughter had no problem providing service hours to get into college. In fact, I’m pretty sure she had more than most kids. About half were church related, but even public universities look kindly on mission trips where the kids are doing hard labor. :)
If she’s white middle class forget it. My daughter is valedictorian with a 99 average taking all IB and AP courses. 1570 of 1600 on the SATs, 35 of 36 on the ACTs. Tutored calculus, Speaks two languages, plays two instruments, 5 year varsity swimmer on a state championship team, lived in Costa Rica a semester, works 3 jobs since 10th grade, plenty of volunteer work & community services, etc.
she didn’t get into Princeton, Yale or Hardvard. But they all brag about the highest percentage of foreign students accepted and their high diversity (aka non-white) rates. It’s all good tho, she bagged a full scholarship at a very good school.
They would be even more respectable had they taught you the difference between "then" and "than".
I’ll tell you what “not a good thing is”: Sending them off to be subjected to the liberal reprogramming of a godless, secular university system (applies to even some of our Catholic schools). A dorm room with a Plan B pill and a coupon for a lesbian gratification toy in the welcome packet. A first lecture in a sociology course that says “Forget everything you ever thought you knew”. A dictionary with the word absolute crossed out and relativism penciled in. A cross shaved into the public hair of a coed with a pope costume.
The society has reached a tipping point and we don’t want to be part of it. No more business as usual. No more feeding the beast and corrupting our offspring doing it. Back to a faith-based life and basic living for us, owing and paying no income tax, far from the mainstream and its celebration of depravity and death by convenience of innocent babies.
Perhaps if you don’t like what you’re reading here you should send Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano out to re-educate me. Tell them to look for the trailer with the cross on the door.
Probably depends on the state. One of my girls probably will want to take technical/vocational classes through to graduation. That's fine. I'll be happy if she has hands-on skills. We're all going to need them.
This is where things are headed.
I have two kids in college. One bought into the crap that her counselors told her. The other figured she would go to community college for two years, and then transfer.
Both got into their first choice colleges. Both are doing fine. The community college daughter is in a fine private school now—she worked her butt off and is practically debt free. The other....well, she is in a great school for her major. But she will have more debt than she should.
Volunteerism really isn’t if the only reason you are doing it is for self gain.
Another thing that irks me — why the hell does anyone want their kids assimilated into the increasingly liberal-fascist world of American corporations — where the first assignment is a diversity seminar and the sign-up sheet for the Boy Scouts Go Gay Fund is on the intranet now. Don’t forget to stop by HR and indicate your restroom preference — needs to be updated each week as people change, you know.
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