Required gap year? A poll.

[MaxPC]

Just rang off from a congenial conversation with an old colleague. He put forth a proposal that is, to say the least, thought provoking.

He proposes that all managers in government and large corporations should be required to take a gap year every ten years to serve the poor and work menial jobs. My colleague feels it would put some of the higher levels back in touch with reality. What do you think? Yes? No? Other?

[Robert]

I voted no because I think the all need to be term limited, elected and appointed alike.

[Neto]

In Brazil, doctors are required to serve a certain amount of time each week in government hospitals, helping the poor.

I think that those people who are having their education bills paid by the tax payers (through the government) should do some type of public service in appreciation for what they are receiving.

[Ken]

Required charity isn't charity. It is just a tax on one's time instead of one's money.

Who pays for this? The employee by losing a year of salary and benefits? The corporation by continuing to pay salary and benefits for an employee no longer working for them? Or the government through some kind of tax credit of some sort?

If it is the government paying then that would be an enormous waste of government tax dollars since the government would be effectively paying high level corporate salaries to people who are doing menial low-level charity work. Is it to the benefit of the taxpayers to pay some high level CEO his $1 million/year salary to pound nails for Habitat for Humanity or push boxes around in the warehouse of some food bank?

So no. A very dumb and poorly thought out idea in my book.

Far better to reconstitute some of the old New Deal programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps or similar to let young people do productive gap years when they are young and fresh out of college or high school. Like the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps. And then promote it. So that the people who eventually become CEOs and top level managers already have such experiences under their belts before they assume such jobs. You could incentivize that sort of thing as much as you wanted by wiping out student loans and/or making deposits for young people into retirement accounts or some such for the future. So they get something from it other than just cash to blow.

[Ken]

In Brazil, doctors are required to serve a certain amount of time each week in government hospitals, helping the poor.

I think that those people who are having their education bills paid by the tax payers (through the government) should do some type of public service in appreciation for what they are receiving.

It is like that in Chile. Med school is free, but you owe 2 years of service in the Public Health Corps after you graduate. My wife did that, she was sent to a rural village to work in a small rural health clinic for 2 years of service after graduating med school. Those who chose not to do that get a bill for their entire 6 years of college education from the government that they have to pay so there are some rich who just pay it off in lieu of their service.

It was the same in Guatemala when I was working there. We'd get young doctors from the city deployed out to small rural towns to do their required 2-years of service.

[Neto]

In Brazil, doctors are required to serve a certain amount of time each week in government hospitals, helping the poor.

I think that those people who are having their education bills paid by the tax payers (through the government) should do some type of public service in appreciation for what they are receiving.

It is like that in Chile. Med school is free, but you owe 2 years of service in the Public Health Corps after you graduate. My wife did that, she was sent to a rural village to work in a small rural health clinic for 2 years of service after graduating med school. Those who chose not to do that get a bill for their entire 6 years of college education from the government that they have to pay so there are some rich who just pay it off in lieu of their service.

It was the same in Guatemala when I was working there. We'd get young doctors from the city deployed out to small rural towns to do their required 2-years of service.

Maybe they have an option to do it all in one stint in Brazil as well, but my understanding was that it is an on-going (permanent) obligation. (Older doctors we went to were also involved in this way. It could be that most of the top professionals in the government hospitals are only there part time, operating their own clinics the rest of the work week.)

[Ken]

In Brazil, doctors are required to serve a certain amount of time each week in government hospitals, helping the poor.

I think that those people who are having their education bills paid by the tax payers (through the government) should do some type of public service in appreciation for what they are receiving.

It is like that in Chile. Med school is free, but you owe 2 years of service in the Public Health Corps after you graduate. My wife did that, she was sent to a rural village to work in a small rural health clinic for 2 years of service after graduating med school. Those who chose not to do that get a bill for their entire 6 years of college education from the government that they have to pay so there are some rich who just pay it off in lieu of their service.

It was the same in Guatemala when I was working there. We'd get young doctors from the city deployed out to small rural towns to do their required 2-years of service.

Maybe they have an option to do it all in one stint in Brazil as well, but my understanding was that it is an on-going (permanent) obligation. (Older doctors we went to were also involved in this way. It could be that most of the top professionals in the government hospitals are only there part time, operating their own clinics the rest of the work week.)

I guess every country is different. There is no such continuing requirement in Chile. My wife's family and circle of friends down there includes a lot of doctors and dentists. None of them do any ongoing mandatory public service. But they all seem to remember their youthful two years of public service fondly.

[temporal1]

There is need for well-rounded education and life experiences.
When that can coincide with charitable work, public service, etc., great. Every student will gain individually.

If education is paid by others, out of the Public Treasury, it’s reasonable to expect obligations.

The concept of gaining valuable education through promises of public service isn’t new. It’s appeared in varying ways.
Medicine, teaching, civilian and military.

i like Robert’s ideas. i didn’t vote.