James Crabtree: Bring back the idea of national service
The gap year army of teenage helpers is all officer corps and no conscripts
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Independent Minds
We haven’t seen its like since Britain had an Expeditionary Force. Every summer an army of well-heeled young Brits fan out across the world to dig wells in Kenya, teach English in Nepal, and build hospitals in Peru. Unlike those who fought in 20th-century Europe, this 21st-century force is all officer corps, no conscripts: a floppy-haired army of Tarquins.
Gap years have become a cherished tradition for the fortunate. Liberal-minded parents reward all those A*s by ponying up the £5,000 needed to jet off from Terminal 5 for a spell mind broadening. There is good theory behind the practice – development projects in socially-mixed groups, and under careful adult supervision, can teach young people discipline and confidence. Gap years run by reputable charities, like Raleigh International, also encourage mixing by subsidising teenagers from poor backgrounds.
But, often, the real gap is between expectation and reality. “Gappers” are overwhelmingly privileged. Half of public school kids take one, but only a small fraction from the state sector. Those not bound for university can’t afford it; even those from middle class backgrounds, facing rising tuition fees, must now work build up a war chest for university. The result? Only the wealthy have a shot at an experience meant to round out their character and résumé.
Even worse, last year the respected international development charity VSO blew the whistle: most gap year projects do little to help development in poor countries and are run by unscrupulous operators out to lighten parents’ wallets, but indifferent to the responsibility they owe to the volunteers, or their host countries. The result is voluntourism, “badly planned and supported schemes that are spurious – benefiting no one apart from the travel companies that organise them” as the VSO said.
Is there a better way? In the forthcoming issue of Prospect, the MP Frank Field and I lay out a plan to replace the gap year with a compulsory period of national civic service for all young people. The idea is partly designed to fight the recession: putting young people to work and so warding off looming youth unemployment. But it would offer the best of the gap year experience: professionalising voluntourism, and creating opportunities in the UK and beyond for all young people alike to get the chance to grow and serve. Under our plan every teenager would be paid a modest wage to spend at least six months mentoring children, helping the sick and elderly, or working on environmental or international development projects. It would be expensive – but no more so than sinking billions into unnecessary Trident submarines.
The idea is popular with the public – 64 per cent back it, according to a recent poll. Gordon Brown supported national voluntary service in opposition, while Cameron’s Conservatives have announced plans for a national programme for every teenager, lasting for six weeks.
But six weeks is not enough. Politicians should be bolder. Imagine a national programme that helped millions of old people, mentored thousands of children, and taught our anomic young people that they are part of something bigger than themselves. It’s certainly a cause big enough to justify retiring Tarquin and his merry band.
James Crabtree is the deputy editor of Prospect
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Comments
From the start we have been careful to consult with local communities to find out from them what they feel would be of benefit (if anything) from having volunteers come in for a short period of time. After each trip, we also consult with the community to see how it went (and also consult with our clients for their feedback).
Voluntourism does have to be very carefully managed, but if done well, it can enrich both the participant and the host community, and there are good operators out there offering this - one just has to be rigorous.
Christopher Hill
Founder
Hands Up Holidays
Far too broad an idea: many, notably those with no real intention of gaining either qualifications or working, would probably benefit from such a scheme and perhaps make them realise the world does not owe them a living, but the prevailing attitude in this article seems to be that all young people fit into this category, which simply isn't true. I left University a few years ago and a year out such as this would have simply got in my way - I enjoyed school, did well academically, and had a set plan about what I was to study as an undergraduate, postgraduate plans and then work plans. I never expected handouts and like many others I owe a lot in student debt thanks to rising tuition fees.
"...taught our anomic young people that they are part of something bigger than themselves."
How gratuitously insulting; my friends and myself were and are all intelligent young people with a broad awareness of the world and certainly not selfish in our attitudes - stop generalising so wildly please Mr Crabtree.
Firstly, how do you KNOW they do not want to do it? And second, "forcing people", you mean, like "forcing" them to attend school from the age of roughly five to eighteen? Why do you think Britain is the yob capital of Europe? Probably it's because our children today receive little discipline while growing up, unlike in most other countries and indeed unlike the way we baby boomers were brought up with occasional clips around the ear from the local bobby, i.e. instant justice, not the long drawn-out and totally ineffectual ASBO approach with a possible criminal record, courtesy of authoritarian New Labour.
You say it's correct to have compulsory schooling/education until eighteen, and I see the kind of civic service Frank Field and others are talking about just the same as schooling/education, but of a different kind, with more focus on practical skills and how to interact with fellow citizens at all levels to become a fully-rounded member of society. Like I said, other EU states do it and they do not have anything like the same level of anti-social behaviour.
I say, bring it on, Mr Cameron!
Beria would be proud of you, Crabtree. Thank God you are sufficiently talentless to ensure the failure of this hideous proto-Soviet nightmare.
A year of volunteering or alike sounds very much like Israel's compulsory military service, whereby the political playing field for young people is radically diminished. University, however, is the reverse, opening fields of opportunity to whoever walks through the door. This regardless of wealth and social position.
An investment in higher education not only rings well, but is much more wise then dropping money into another naively conceived experimental program dreamed up by would-be policy makers.