Ontario High School Community Service

[Boogilywoo]

Im not sure about the rest of the Provinces, but in Ontario high school students have to do 40 hours of community service before they can recieve their diploma. I was thinking that it might be a good idea that the students could serve in a Reserve regiment for a year as an alternative to the community service. I think ot would enforce alot of the same ethos that community service does, but would also provied several other things, such as a sense of national pride. It would also help deal with some of the overweight kids.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the subject? How would one go about proposing this? Has it been proposed before?

 

[Juvat]

The idea itself is excellent in concept, however putting it into practice might be a tad problematic.  One has to keep in mind such things as insurance when dealing with employment (since doing this "community service" would require being employed in the CF).

The Coop programs are already in place to accept individuals who wish to experience the CF while earning money and credits.  Often times there is a high demand for those coops but limited availability.

Although it could be a good source of recruits (in addition to the Coop)  You will have to look for instructors available to train this new batch.

Once again a good concept but hardly plausible.

Cheers

 

[Brad Sallows]

40 hours of community service?  WTF?

 

[anton]

40 hours of community service?  WTF?

Yep...it's a graduation requirement in Ontario. If I don't get 6 more hours till grad day, Im screwed...

Back to the original topic, it's a great idea...but seems highly impractical (is that a word?). A lot goes into joining the Reserves.

 

[Groucho]

I think if someone wants to join the reserves anyway and needs hours of community service that they should have the option to have the hours writing off!

 

[George Wallace]

Im not sure about the rest of the Provinces, but in Ontario high school students have to do 40 hours of community service before they can recieve their diploma. I was thinking that it might be a good idea that the students could serve in a Reserve regiment for a year as an alternative to the community service. I think ot would enforce alot of the same ethos that community service does, but would also provied several other things, such as a sense of national pride. It would also help deal with some of the overweight kids.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the subject? How would one go about proposing this? Has it been proposed before?

The COOP Program covers this.  Use SEARCH and read what we have already posted on this topic.

 

[Boogilywoo]

The COOP doesnt really cover it at all. The COOP is for attaining high school credits, not qualifying for your community service hours.

 

[UberCree]

A number of school divisions elsewhere are also requiring community work for graduation (much more than 40 hours).  It must be volunteer based however, so working in the reserves would not be eligible.  You can  get credits for reserve timehowever, if you have a willing administrator on your side.
ALso on the positive side (community service credits are very positive IMO), Manitoba will be the first province in Canada to require grade 11 and 12 phys ed (in addition to grade 9 and 10) for graduation within the next few years (2009 I believe?). 

 

[PoPo]

I think if someone wants to join the reserves anyway and needs hours of community service that they should have the option to have the hours writing off!

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but as Reserves get "paid" this would not be considered Community Service - "Country" Service possibly but not "Community.

Just my 2 cents

PoPo

 

[The_Falcon]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but as Reserves get "paid" this would not be considered Community Service - "Country" Service possibly but not "Community.

Just my 2 cents

PoPo

Exactly the hours involved MUST BE VOLUNTARY.  IE NOT PAID.  40 hours isn't that much, during my highschool years I volunteered with St. John Ambulance and completed over 1200 hours in 5 years. 

 

[anton]

Exactly the hours involved MUST BE VOLUNTARY.  IE NOT PAID.  40 hours isn't that much, during my highschool years I volunteered with St. John Ambulance and completed over 1200 hours in 5 years. 

Someone obviously has too much time in their hands...

 

[beach_bum]

When did the community service requirement come in?

 

[navymich]

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/extra/eng/ppm/124a.html

As stated in Ontario Secondary Schools, Grades 9 to 12: Program and Diploma Requirements, 1999 (OSS), every student who begins secondary school during or after the 1999–2000 school year must complete a minimum of 40 hours of community involvement activities as part of the requirements for an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD). The purpose of the community involvement requirement is to encourage students to develop awareness and understanding of civic responsibility and of the role they can play and the contributions they can make in supporting and strengthening their communities.

Community involvement activities are part of the school’s program.

 

[The_Falcon]

Someone obviously has too much time in their hands...

Not really.  It was time well spent, and I picked up valuable skills and experiences along the way, which continue to serve to this day.  Its rather unfortunate that someone would view volunteering a large number of hours helping out in their community as wasting time.  Especially when that someone is looking to be an MP.

My highschool (RH King Academy) was one of the reasons the Ontario government mandated community service.  We were required to do community service before it was actually mandated.