Two very serious people have proposed a serious scheme in a serious magazine, and it seems seriously barmy.
I like Prospect Magazine and I had a respect for the ‘authority and weight’ of some of their pieces. This morning, I watched the magazine’s editor, James Crabtree, promoting the forthcoming issue on BBC Breakfast Television, in which he, and a former Labour Cabinet Minister, Frank Field MP, seriously argue the case for compulsory national service for 16-25 year olds - a notion which apparently 64% of the UK population would support.
Of course, on the face of it, I understand the thrust of the arguments in favour of it. At a time of recession, large numbers of young people are unemployed. This could lead to social unrest and a lead to bad habits being formed which cling for a lifetime. We don’t want the population of permanently unemployed and unemployable to increase. The cost in benefits is rising dramatically, and with jobs to be done, why not spend some of the benefit money on wages and pay them to do necessary jobs?
The scheme proposes starting with a period of group service where people from different backgrounds are forced to mix and work together, followed by people doing individual jobs.
OK. I have to declare, I worked for over 30 years with 16 -21 year olds, and I can tell you, a big part of me is just saying: “This ain’t gonna happen!”
Leaving aside any financial arguments, which I don’t feel I have enough detail on to comment about, it seems to me that there are two huge arguments which seem to make the scheme a non-starter.
First, there is the issue of enforcement. When asked about this on television, James Crabtree glibly (in my view) said that we enforce taxes, and in times of national crisis we enforce conscription into the armed forces, so we could enforce this if we wanted to.
Enforcement could only happen if there were fairly and rigorously administered sanctions. And just what would those be? Would we fine offenders and add to their existing massive student or poverty debts, and then imprison them for non-payment?
Would we seriously imprison people for not doing their national service, or just send them on community service instead? The criminal justice system and probation service are already creaking - a few thousand extra cases of recalcitrant young people might just be enough to clog it up completely.
The second major issue is that of safety. The majority of 16-25 year old are trustworthy and sensitive individuals - but like all members of the population, some of them aren’t. Would you want some of them doing odd jobs around your house or helping your elderly relatives without significant training and tight supervision? There was talk of the scheme being used to help the sick and the elderly. Why not add the mentally ill? To anyone who thought about it for a moment or two, these are the very groups who often require the interpersonal skills and maturity that take time to learn. If significant training and effective supervision were available my fears would be reduced, but the latter is costly and unlikely to happen in practice, whatever the paperwork and certificates say.
If the Government were to offer realistically paid work for young people with good training and effective supervision, to do needed jobs in the community, I would wholeheartedly support the scheme. However, the key phrases are ‘offer’ (not ‘compel’), ‘realistically paid’ (not ‘unrealistically paid’), ‘good training’ (not ‘inadequate training’), and ‘effective supervision’ (not ‘ineffective supervision’).
If only Frank Field and James Crabtree would spend 3 months in a College of Further Education they might get more real.
Well, yes and probably most of that 64% of the population is aged over 50 and reads The Daily Mail - can’t say that statistic surprises me. The survey sample was also very small - just over 2,000 people.
I do think it is better that young people are encouraged to do something with their time. I see friends of my daughter’s languishing at home, spending too much time on the computer and gradually making themselves unemployable. It is often the case that their parents make life too easy for them - don’t demand any rent, do all their washing and cooking, and enable them to become more incompetent day by day. But I am not convinced this is something we want to hand over to the State.
I do not believe in compulsory national service of any kind. I can see why older people think it is a good thing and in many cases for some young people it probably would be a good thing and get them into something which would launch them into a career or whatever. But it is open to abuse and I do not believe in requiring people (other than prisoners) to do jobs they have not chosen to do.
My daughter spent six months doing VSO and a further six months travelling abroad. This was a great thing for her to do and I was pleased that she did so. But I am sure she would not have wanted to do it if she had been told she must (she is her mother’s daughter!) nor would she have got the same sense of pride in having done it because it would not have been her decision to do so. It would also be the case that it would spoil the experience of volunteering for those who do CHOOSE to do it if others are obliged to - it alters the ethos and spirit of the groups in the activity, in the same way that sixth forms have changed since some students stay on because they are paid to do so.
And yes, you are spot on with the practicalities of the thing - how on earth would we force people to do it.
If young people want such a system, then good luck to them but I don’t think it should be down to us oldies to force it upon them because we have been so rubbish at managing the economy.
Shoot me, but I am an idealist humanist. I don’t think army’s should exist. Neither do I think that young should be submitted to the horrors of boot camp. That stuff hardens people and awakens the evil, vengeful side of a person.
Boot camps are famous for humiliating, breaking, bullying people–to harden them for war, but many a young person learn the behaviour for life and extrapolate it to all their endeavours. Many criminals learn or polish their tricks while in the army.
I know I am being unreasonable and that armies are needed and that the training must be performed that way. I just wish the human race found better ways to survive together.
Do you have an election coming soon? I ask because this idea sounds like the kind of scheme politicians hatch to score political points with particular demographic groups.