Previous generations have benefitted from state funded education, and so surely it is hypocritical of them to expect us to both pay for it, and work aswell. At the same time they complain about consumerism having caused a recession due to their greed. We, the young will be left to foot the bill.

I am not opposed to a culture in which people give back to society, I myself spent my gap year working in a nursing home, I assume cleaning, feeding and toileting the elderly counts as giving back. Enforced civil service, however, is not the way to go about it. In sweden, 48% of adults volunteer regularly, due to encouragement. In Germany, all young men are forced into civil service and afterwards only 20% volunteer again.

I assure you, any interest rise on the £20K I will owe upon graduation will not pail into insignificance either.

Incorporating 100 hours of civil service into university degrees will incite a substantial difference to communities and play a pivotal role in helping student’s cultivate an ethic of service to others. It will also provide unemployed 18-24 year olds with an opportunity to partake in a commitment to help build a better society and encourage responsibility amidst those individuals.

The levy on loan interest to fund the scheme pails into insignificance for those benefiting from state subsidized education and is estimated to generate £1Bn is economic and social benefits per annum Labour’s study suggests.

Students need to take less for granted and certainly are not above giving something back.

I pay taxes for a police service I never use, a health care system I haven't needed since I was born, a fire brigade that's never put a fire out for me and for roads I still haven't driven on. But I am allowed to, at no extra cost. For that reason, you can continue to pay for the education I am using, because you are allowed it.

People who want to go to uni tend to spend the rest of their lives paying taxes, funding the NHS, and police, and fire department. I don't see people on Job Seekers Allowance having to provide ANYTHING to society.

When you support nationalized health care, you are demanding that others be required to provide you with goods and services to meet your needs – in this case medical care. Once you have accepted the principle that your needs are a demand upon the goods and labor of others, then it is I who is mystified at to how you can argue against compulsory service being imposed upon you as a student. Your government has determined that the needs of "society" place a demand upon you and that you must be forced to work in service of those needs – just as you apparently are prepared to demand that other be forced to work for your needs. Based upon what principle are you advocating one but not the other?

It is only the principle of liberty — the recognition of each individual's right to their own life — that will provide you with a defense against your enslavement in the name of "national service". But that same principle protects others against your demanding that they be enslaved to fulfill your demands. You can't have it both ways. You either stand in support of a free society that promotes individual liberty, or you stand for a totalitarian society that enslaves every citizen. So as long as you support nationalized health care, you are powerless to mount a case against your own slavery.

Regards,
–
C. Jeffery Small

James:

I agree with your take on this issue. The drive for universal mandatory national service is also underway in the US, and I have been writing about this topic for some time now. last week, I also picked up on the report coming from the think tank Demos, which made the recommendation for the
mandatory service requirement for UK students, and wrote an article about this his at my blog ( http://go-galt.org/Galt_Pledge/JG_Blog.html#084 ). You might be interested in taking a look at my website for a fuller discussion relating to the philosophical issues underlying this abomination.

I support your outrage and recommend that you do everything possible to denounce and protest the implementation of this measure. Organize your fellow students, write to your papers, and try to educate people about the real meaning behind this action.

Best of luck.
–
C. Jeffery Small
http://go-galt.org/Galt_Pledge/

James:

I agree with your take on this issue. The drive for universal mandatory national service is also underway in the US, and I have been writing about this topic for some time now. last week, I also picked up on the report coming from the think tank Demos, which made the recommendation for the
mandatory service requirement for UK students, and wrote an article about this his at my blog ( http://go-galt.org/Galt_Pledge/JG_Blog.html#084 ). You might be interested in taking a look at my website for a fuller discussion relating to the philosophical issues underlying this abomination.

I support your outrage and recommend that you do everything possible to denounce and protest the implementation of this measure. Organize your fellow students, write to your papers, and try to educate people about the real meaning behind this action.

Best of luck.
–
C. Jeffery Small
http://go-galt.org/Galt_Pledge/

I agree with your take on this issue. The drive for universal mandatory national service is also underway in the US, and I have been writing about this topic for some time now. last week, I also picked up on the report coming from the think tank Demos, which made the recommendation for the mandatory service requirement for UK students, and wrote an article about this his at my blog ( http://go-galt.org/Galt_Pledge/JG_Blog.html#084 ). You might be interested in taking a look at my website for a fuller discussion relating to the philosophical issues underlying this abomination.

I support your outrage and recommend that you do everything possible to denounce and protest the implementation of this measure. Organize your fellow students, write to your papers, and try to educate people about the real meaning behind this action.

Best of luck.
–
C. Jeffery Small
http://go-galt.org/Galt_Pledge/