Article Review - Essay Example

Countries Should Not Institute Obligatory National Service The issue of national service remains one of great interest today. While countries such asSweden, Greece, and Denmark have maintained the service, others like Germany have recently opted to end their obligatory national service programs as noted by Connolly (cited in Tzu, 2013, p. 2). Although the obligatory national service equips individuals with vital life skills, its cost is quite prohibitive.
One argument that has been posted against the national service regards the level of occupation of national service trainees during times of peace. The young men and women in the service, according to Tzu (2013), have little to do when there is no war. Secondly, the national service costs billions of Euros to administer, the main reason the German government terminated its program as noted by Connolly (cited in Tzu, 2013, p. 2).
Those in support of the program note that the national service equips individuals with important life skills (Patten, 2014). The other argument in support of the service is that those from the national service can perform a number of useful tasks, “such as ambulance driving or firefighting” as stated by Buchanan (cited in Patten, 2014, p. 2). While it is beyond doubt that those who have gone through national service training can play different roles in society especially during crises, there is no doubt that they may lack something to do when there is no crisis (Tzu, 2013). Yet again, while they can contribute to society through their skills, their net contribution may not be felt since they do not earn salaries and pay no taxes to the government.
In summary, the national service equips individuals with important life skills to the extent that they can perform different tasks. While this is the case, the cost of running the program may run into billions of Euros, which is quite prohibitive. In addition, those who have gone through the training may not have work to do when there is peace in the country to the extent that their net contribution to society may be minimal.
References
Patten, M. (2014). You’re in the army now, Societies and People (4)2, 10-16, City Press, NY.
Tzu. S. (2013). Social service and cohesion, Alpha Publishers, New York Read More