Because of the youth / yob culture in Britain today should we.?

Question

Introduce by statute of law a form of conscription for a minimum period of 12 months to give youngsters a sense of worth and belonging to the community so that they may become sensible law abiding citizens with community values.

Because the police are tasked to deal with the problems created by the youth / yob culture they should be the ones to oversee and control such a scheme.

What do you think?

Just a note, this is not to stereotype all youth, but think the results of bad parenting often creates bad parents simply becaused they are not taught values, it becomes cyclical and degenerative. Reverse the process by taking a proactive approach make youth feel good about themselves and others.

A mixed bag of opinions, but there is a general concensus it would do greater good than harm. Thanks to everyone.

Answer 1

I'm a youth and I live in Britain and I agree that most other youths are really stupid, binge-drinking, smoking etc. But as a youth I am stereotyped because of this and a law like this would cause more people to raise an eyebrow at me and my mates just because we're youths so no - bad idea.

A better law might be to make stereotypical elderly people learn to live in the modern world and not complain that's its scary to go out at night. Most youth, although they are a bunch of rough chavs, wont even look at you. In fact my mom has said she finds youths are quite suprised when she would ask them for help with directions or whatever and they would actually help.

Answer 2

This is an extremely complex problem and cannot be resolved by 'quick-fix' solutions such as raising the drinking age limit to 21, or threats to jail parents. We could start by examining the reasons why some youths (most teenagers are law abiding) feel the need to smash up a bus shelter and worse. The problem is a whole society issue and linked to education and a belief that some youths do not have a stake in society. We could make a start with a high profile commission with the involvement of all political parties to decide on progressive steps to help the situation. The 'solutions' will take decades to work through, so no quick fixes!

Answer 3

I was thinking maybe something like this myself..

In my system as soon as someone leaves full-time education they do some form of 'community service' for not less than 6 months. This could include working with the police, fire service, military, NHS, social services, local council or similar. Everyone doing this would receive the same wage no matter what they chose, and that wage would be enough for them to support themselves.

Amongst the other benefits I think this would instill a sense of self-worth and confidence in the youth, as well as responsibilty and feeling like part of the community, which would benefit the individual and society both in short and long term.

Answer 4

This is the old National Service question in a different guise.
What is needed is a sense of responsibility and obligation. Schools and others responsible for young people have been hampered from teaching this by the more ridiculous emphasis on "Rights"
The lesson to be leaned is that a citizen has more responsibilities than right because for every Right there is a responsibility or duty. That means amongst other things that if a citizen is called for Jury Duty he applies himself to the best of his ability after all he may well be in the box one day.
A child has the right to an education a parents have a duty to assist as best they can. Children (incl. teenagers) have a duty to apply themselves. I've gone on long enough for you to get the picture

Answer 5

I think we should do the same as some other european countries that is no child benefit after the age of 5yrs old (i think the french do this, its 3 in spain) this will dramatically reduce children giving birth to children which in time would improve society.
For 18-20 or 21 national service for all with the only exceptions being students and pacifists the pacifists can spend this time looking after the disabled, old and infirm (this i think is done in Germany).
Well there's my suggestion for what it's worth!

Answer 6

I think a year national (not military) service would be good. Kids should be taken out of their home environment to spend a year somewhere completely different, clearing canals, cleaning beaches, whatever needs doing, and mixing in with people from different backgrounds.

I don't think the Police should control it, it's not supposed to be a punishment, more like a bonding exercise, and a chance for young people to get away from their home environments before committing themselves to a career.

A year of a compulsory healthy diet and exercise regime would do wonders as well.

Answer 7

In Australia they condemn the Aborigine for similar activities - another political response is to increase taxes on alcohol, thinking only the low income cause these problems. The chaos is now wide spread, we need to eradicate this problem with the same fervor that we attack smokers and drug addicts.

Answer 8

National Service yes but more like community service than marching around in a barracks.

Answer 9

If they haven't learned to abide by laws by the time they are of age, how would the military do what their parents couldn't in 18 years time? They used to do that in communist countries..

Answer 10

I have saying this for ages now and something has to be done to tackle this anti social time we are now living in..Give em a sense of discipline and worth and we will be back on track in no time at all..