So I've been having thoughts about this whole 'bring back national service' thing. I've seen other people raising things like exceptions for those in work or education, or the idea of the service being more in the way of community services rather than military. And these are all good points but they don't quite get at what I find so worrying about it.
National service is never brought up just as a solution to short-staffed services. It's usually part of a complaint on 'today's youth' and their need to 'learn some discipline/respect'.
Now the idea that 'kids today' are worse than previous generations is such an old idea. 'Kids today' are always on their phones, but in the 18th century young people had a 'novel reading mania'. And most of the people calling for national service probably didn't have to do it themselves, yet I assume they see themselves as having a reasonable amount of discipline and respect.
Now this has all been said before, but what worries me is the sort of 'respect and discipline' people have in mind and how they see it as lacking in young people today. Is it the military sort where you respect anyone higher up than you, and follow orders without question? Because while I can see the logic of that in military situations, I don't see it as being of universal importance.
What kids today are doing, possibly what young people of all times have always done, is questioning how things are and challenging unfairness where they find it. They're questioning gender and the patriarchy, systemic racism, economic inequality, how we treat the environment. And so saying they need more discipline seems almost like saying 'all of this is fine. Just do as you're told and don't worry about it'. It doesn't seem like a way to stop antisocial behaviour, it seems like a way to restrict freedom and individuality.
And yes, people will say it's not about this. It's the kids who are out stealing, vandalising and committing violent crimes. But there's a difference between who it's being supposedly aimed at and who it will actually impact; between the intended outcome and the actual. Between respect for the law and doing the right thing. It seems almost to obvious to mention the nazis here, but then again a lot of people seem to have entirely the wrong idea about WHY they were the bad guys.
Now I'm nearly 40. I don't exactly have my finger on the pulse of today's youth, but it seems to me that massive progress is being made in the direction of questioning the status quo, in asking 'what's right' instead of listening to 'what's allowed'. I wouldn't want that stopped because some people less in touch than me think we need to go back to some 'good old days' that didn't actually exist.
