this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2025
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Yes and no. For kids doing it, it’s more “community service” but for this kid, he keeps going so it turns into a love of volunteering.
The word “volunteer” is literally defined as a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task.
If it’s required, then it is not, by definition, “freely given“, and, thus, not volunteering.
This isn’t an argument of degrees. It is literally not volunteering according to the definition of the word volunteering.
What this article describes his literal slavery.
And if this kid enjoys himself around the cat, that’s because cats are awesome, not because he was forced to labor without compensation.
But he keeps going. Freely. So it is volunteering now. The first 15 hours was not volunteering by definition, but it is afterwards.
I pretty clearly addressed this already.
If you are required to go, it is not volunteering.
And this kid doesn’t continue because he enjoyed slavery. It’s because he wanted to be around cats again, and then discovered that, when not being forced into slavery, he actually enjoys giving his time freely. Not because he enjoyed slavery.
Your entire assertion is ridiculous
Edit: and if the only way you know how to teach kids to enjoy volunteering is to force them into institutionalized slavery, then you’re a shitty teacher and a shitty parent.
Talk about absolutism. You didn’t address this, and you didn’t read my comment. I’m done.
Some words are binary: a thing either is or is not X. A word like “volunteer” does not have degrees. It either is is not volunteering. It either does or does not match the definition.
There are plenty of other words in the English language which can apply to a wide variety of possible situations and circumstances or subjects, but we’re not talking about one of those words.
And you’re really not helping your argument by making me correct you, once again, on your vocabulary.
Bro, the reason the school calls them "volunteer hours" is because the places that need help are asking for volunteers. Even though it's mandatory for students, these are hours at a volunteering opportunity. Interacting with the community is part of growing up, and part of their education. It's not slavery.
Just because the location is asking for “volunteers “and the school sends child slave labor doesn’t make that child slave labor magically “volunteering”.
Words have meanings. The meanings of words don’t just magically change because you happen to be wrong.
Bro
They do change contextually, though? That's sorta the whole basis of language.
That is not the basis of language, lol
It quite literally is. All encoding of information is definitionally contextual, language (formal or not) is no exception. This doesn't change because the language is spoken.
You’re funny. You should go on tour.
This is so hilariously wrong
Nah fam, this is near enough a perfect universal truth.
This doesn’t say what you think it does. Lol.
Lmfao buddy, so what does it say then? Because I'm getting the feeling you're not exactly familiar with anything to do with linguistic theory, and it sure would be easy and satisfying to disabuse me of that notion. Look at me, I'm right here, calling your bluff while taking a biiiiiig ol' sip of my coffee. Make me eat my tasty (and context dependent) words, and pull a comedy spit-take in the process! The power is yours, the ball is in your court, dazzle us oh knower-of-truths!
Reading this whole thread is so baffling, but this is my favourite response I've seen lmaoo
You’re ranting like a crazy person. Calm down.
If if this is how you react when people tell you, you’re wrong, then I’ve no interest in continuing this conversation.
Go touch grass. Blocked.
Yeah, that's kinda what I thought...
By this logic isn't school just slavery?
you aren't strictly forced to go to school, it's your parents who will suffer the consequences for you not going, but yes forcing kids to go to school when they clearly don't want to is an extremely shitty thing and leads to lots of issues.
I have heard this very intelligently argued more than once over the last 30 years. I’m not gonna get into the arguments, because they are all actually kind of different and all very complicated.
Suffice it to say, I don’t really think so. Because I don’t, personally, view school as “work” or “labor”. Nobody would get paid to go to school as an occupation— other than (post)doctoral students, I suppose. That’s not really the same thing, working off of grants.
And, in a huge portion of cases, people actually pay a premium to go to school.
But if you’re trying to ask if I think any compulsory activity for children, or anyone else, is tantamount about slavery, no I don’t. Obviously, it’s a very nuanced subject.
Thanks for the response, I appreciate it.
do you think homework is slavery too?
Maybe if you did your homework, you know the meaning of the word “slave”
maybe if you did yours you'd understand that "and" means both conditions need to be fulfilled for a statement to be true. so how is that child considered a property of anyone in this situation?
Talk about cherry picking, lol
the definition part of the definition is the paragraph next to "1." the bullet points below it are examples of how it applies. you provided that definition, are you telling me that on top of not understanding the meaning of "and" you also failed to understand the formatting itself?
I love how you are enraged by this hypertechnicality, but children are property of their parents, in every legal way, but the name.
So you can continue being enraged by this hypertechnicality, but it doesn’t actually exist. You made yourself very angry over nothing. Lol.
It must suck to be so bored that you have to invent reasons to be mad. Lol.
i'm really not enraged, not even close to that. i'm calmly bewildered by your far-reaching thought process
it's you who picked a hypertechnicality ("property of their parents" who btw. aren't the ones making the kid do work here? it's the school doing that, in case you forgot) to be mad about
Classy.
Your astounding level of hypocrisy literally made me laugh out loud
sigh
They are using volunteer to imply that the work cannot be payed
it's to teach children (and their parents) how to volunteer and where, by assigning public service to the kids. it's not called public service because volunteering is what it will be once the teaching is done, it's avoiding confusion of teaching something that is called another word after you finish school
i think you might be overreacting a little bit
If you can’t teach these lessons without forced to child labor/slavery, then you’re a shitty teacher and a shitty parent to think that slavery is an acceptable path for teaching a child public service.
There are better ways to do this than child slavery.
genuinely, how old are you?
if your child doesn't want to brush their teeth, are you going to insist that their personal freedom is the most important thing and let their dental hygiene suffer? that forcing them to brush their teeth is somehow slavery? (as small as it is, it is work after all)
it's 15h a semester, a kid can do ~1h of helping out around the neighbourhood a week and pass easily. oh no! a child is being made to help people for an hour a week! learning the benefits of helping and gaining experience doing small tasks! literally slavery!
you gotta touch some grass buddy, smell the flowers, talk with parents, talk with teachers, relax
What else would you call forced labour with no paycheck?
You’re comparing apples and oranges to argue in favor of child slavery.
How old are you?
Oh, and if I continue to stand up against child slavery, even after getting dog piled by a bunch of people who, apparently, really love child slavery, then so be it.
And it’s hardly my fault that you can’t figure out a better way than child slavery to teach children the value of public service.
then go ask an ethics board of your nearby university their opinion, see how many people actually agree with your overtly exaggerated understanding of "child slavery". because holy shit man, i'm a leftist, so far left i'm an anarchist, i'm all for freedom and consent, and even by my standards what you're saying is just– wild
Don’t have a seizure from your anger.
Cognitive dissonance can be very dangerous.
Oh, and, moving the goal posts much? If you can’t make a rational argument yourself, don’t put it on the local university to do it for you. This is ridiculous.
what? (._.) <- this has been my face the entire conversation, sometimes (o_O) <- this
this is not what moving the goal post means. at least look up things before saying them
i would make a rational argument, if i thought my argument would be met with an equally rational response. but so far you haven't really shown off your ability to do so, so i'd rather outsource that task to someone who at least would make some money from a conversation with you
That’s a really long-winded “I know you are but what am I?”
Lmao. Grow up.
sure thing buddy, i'll go ahead and get my grown up tasks going, and you finish your education, and no it's not slavery i promise
My dude it’s typically called service learning and your pessimistic and overly pedantic take on it isn’t great.
The notion of these activities is to get kids out in the world to see how it works and interact with its systems AND possibly have them help out and learn about things.
When I was in school I did my service learning with a nature conservancy near me, it was fun and was treated like a school assignment.
They’re not slaves and your comparison is wild for anyone living in any form of servitude.
I said this before, and I’ll say it again: if you can’t figure out a way to teach your children, the value of public service by any other means then child slavery, then you’re a shitty teacher and a shitty parent.
There’s a plethora of other ways to teach these lessons that don’t include child slavery.
You’re alone on this hill and I hope whatever traumas of your past have you this worked up don’t keep clawing you down.
This is a pretty uninformed and awful take my dude, enjoy your little cesspool.
Personal attack instead of a rational argument. Classy.
Take solace in knowing everyone else is wrong.
Not everyone. Just you and a small handful of terrible people who really like child slavery.
Can’t wait to wake my son up and ~~make him do his chores~~ put him to a ‘slavin