And why do you think there won’t be exemptions for people who are unable to perform any community service? Although the original suggestion was ONLY for high school and college kids, not working professionals.
What exemption would they need, other than being seriously injured or something equally extreme? Most high school students, unlike people on juries, live at home and could have any children they have taken care of by their parents.
In all the screaming, remember this is a suggestion. The only floated idea to to make it mandatory was as part of a school curriculum. And why wouldn’t community service be as valuable a “lesson” as reading, writing and civics?
When those students are forced to learn how to read, write and do basic math, they are left with a useful skill. When those students are forced to do labor in the community, they get nothing out of it, and the only thing that many of their recipients will get is a surly disposition and a half-assed job.
I went to two of those schools (high school and college) that required X amount of community service to graduate. At first everyone complained, but in the end, I knew of no one who didn’t EXCEED their required amount. They got that much out of it. The result was to make me, and most of my classmates, life-long volunteers. What a valuable lesson to teach children.
Putting aside the issue of whether or not this lesson would be learned by most people in your situation, let’s follow this train of thought. You know what would be also good? Drafting everyone for 2 years of military training and reserve duty. Why have the National Guard do relief duty, when you could teach high school graduates the valuable lesson of taking a personal responsibility for the defense of their society and its relief in times of natural and man-made crisis?
What’s that? It’s ok to draft students to make them do menial labor in their community, but making them wear a uniform 1 weekend a month is out of the question?
