Why do students have to pay for something that is required to pass?

Question

In our school system students have to "volunteer" to do 30 hours of community service before they can advance to the 12th grade. Volunteer means you do it for free, but this school requires the student to pay $10 to do the required community service. I would understand if they feed them or bus them to where ever they have to go but that's not the case. The students have to provide their own food and transportation. The parents are asked to sign a paper stating they will not hold the school accountable for any injuries which may arise from doing this "Volunteer Service."

So if it is "REQUIRED" and "VOLUNTEER" why do we have to pay? Why do we have to sign this paper saying we won't blaim the school if something bad happens to our children while in the care of the school?

Answer 1

It's just more legal slavery (or it is if no one objects). Don't sign the paper and don't pay the $10. I think you should get together with some other parents and find an attorney. They cannot legally deprive a child of education. It is not legal to require someone to work for free (unless it is part of the sentence received for committing a crime), especially while refusing to be responsible for their well being. Prisoners have more rights than this.

It isn't volunteering if it's required. Maybe indentured servitude would be a more correct term. It seems to be very popular in this society, in certain career choices, with convicts (guilty until proven innocent in our society), and now with education. Wages that no one can live on aren't good enough any more--let's make as many people as possible put in their 'fair share' of free labor.

Answer 2

It may depend on what it is that the students do for community service. They may have to pay to keep the organization going, or collect money for supplies. So even though they're not being fed or provided with transportation it must be going towards some other resource needed to keep the program going, they couldn't be doing anything to pocket the money. And the parental waiver basically means that your student is responsible for their actions, so if they're s******g around and someone gets hurt or if it's just a simple accident, you can't blame the school or hold them responsible for anything.

You should do more research on what it is exactly they're doing, what organization handles the volunteer work, where the money is going, etc. Then you'll see if this program is something that needs to be stopped (if you can stop it) or not.

If you're suprised by this, you'll be in for an even bigger shock when your kid(s) get to college. They've got fees and marketing schemes (for books) comming out of the woodwork.

Response to Loose Wheel:

According to the 13th Amendment, this would not count as "slavery". What they're doing would only qualify as slavery if the work that the students were doing had some type of monetary value (the actual work, not fees that have to be paid). So unless they were making something that the school or organization was selling, you couldn't bring that up as an issue."Volunteering" cannot count as slavery because the student made the consious choice to participate, knowing that they wouldn't be paid from jump.

And by the way, prisoners DON'T have more rights than this. The 13th Amendment doesnt even apply to convicts.

I agree with you that businesses try to get cheap and free labor at every opportunity. That's just the economic/political make up of this country. I agree with you that it's bullshit though.

Answer 3

Budget cuts have forced schools to partially finace their own expenses.  The people who benefit from the education would be the likely choice for this.