Any questions for Paul Oginsky?

Paul Oginsky co-founded the now well-established Weston Spirit organisation with Simon Weston back in 1987 and remains Vice-President. After establishing a company that supports organisations that seek to foster positive social interaction, he was appointed Chief Executive of the Young Adult Trust in October 2006. The YAT was launched by David Cameron and began its work reviewing various age limits.

More recently it was largely responsible for the thinking behind Cameron's National Citizenship proposals for a course for 16 olds that could include volunteering abroad, military service, and an oath of citizenship. Download the full proposals here.

Comments

[Tony Makara]

How could the citizens service be made to appeal to youngsters from ethnic minorities? Would it be possible to enlist the support of other role models like Amir Kahn to promote the CS?

[Dale]

To suggest that the average 16 year old could be convinced to take part in this citizen service is ,if you don't mind me saying, pure insanity. It is a fantastic idea bt a complete waste of time. I was a very astute and politically savvy 16 year old not so long ago (1 year ago) and there is no way that even I would have done this.

The political classes should be very careful not to alienate any perticular group of people and I think that some of young adult trust's idea are extremely patronising.

I will conclude by reminding everyone that we are supposed to be the party trying to keep the state out of people's lives.

[Pisaboy]

Great speech at conference Paul. I remember you saying you were in the Paras- My favourite part of the idea is the military service bit. Do you think that could be a bigger element than currently proposed without it putting strain on our forces?

[Dean]

As much as I idolised Mrs T at 16 (and still do at 32!) I wouldn't have bought into this even if she'd have come up with it.

That said, numerous class mates went into the Combined Cadet Force so who knows.

[Baskerville]

Would you agree that a National Citizenship Service should not be organised centrally, but locally? My preference would be to base it on counties, but I'd like to hear your views. Also, what should be the public/private/charitable mix and how would you ensure it was achieved?

[Anthony Broderick]

Hi Paul,

A lot of schools seem to be keen on cutting down their summer holidays and spreading the holiday time throughout the rest of the year. Wouldn't that be a fly in the ointment for this? I'd love to see this as a compulsory gap year that gave people life experience (and I agree that military training should be a big part), but I suppose you ruled that out for being too radical?

Thanks,

Anthony

[Letters From A Tory]

Why would anyone spend an entire summer at that age not earning any money for themselves? Surely the need to save money is more pressing than ever.

[Matt Wright]

I think this needs to be so organised that it is near to being compulsory as it can be. Conservatism has always been about how you marry rights and responsibilities, we are not pure libertarians.

I think it would be hugely important for young adults to understand that with rights come responsibilities and for their energies to be positively channelled. Without this our society and communities will continue to suffer problems. There are various ways we could make participation almost universal or we could change the emphasis.

Various suggestions to ponder:

1) Could increase the driving age limit by 2 years and then make a condition of getting a driving license at current age limit (ie early), that you should have completed the National Citizen Service.

2) We could leave the proposal as it is and have entirely optional partcipation. then introduce another entirely seperate and parallel service, which is compulsory for youngsters who are getting into repeat offending. This could be a boot camp run by ex-servicemen. Those youngsters that did well in this could be offered a career in the army, navy or air force. My point here is that this is the group of youngsters we actually do need to deal with.

Matt

[Dave Bartlett]

How is does this 'national citizen service' idea differ from the Duke of Edinburgh award?

[Ay Up]

I know you're not a Tory but what do you think it would take for the Tories to make a comeback in Liverpool?

[Ay Up]

Oh, and do any of your mates tease you about being associated with the Tories?!

[Tim Benbow]

Did your experience of youth work in LIverpool lead to any conclusions about how effective projects in the third sector are compared to the social services? Social services seem to me to be primarily focused on themselves and those who run private or Church projects often work much harder and without as much bureaucracy.

[Graham L. Tasker M.B.C.S. C.I.T.P.]

Some questions about the National Citizen Service if I may :

1 ) I am a member of an educational charity, We have many Teenage members. At the age of 13, they start training, so that at the age of 16 they can become full active members. To lose them for 6 weeks during their first active summer would cause us major problems. How could groups like this educational charity be accommodated in your system?

2) Many of the teenagers who would be interested in to this scheme are already doing DoE, Scouts, St John’s Ambulance, charity work and so on. How can these activities be accommodated in your system? Should it disrupt what they are already doing?

3) The Teenagers would need to do this scheme, will not do it unless made to do so, how do you go about this? (Raising the Voting age, Driving Licence age, etc will have no effect on them.)

4) The remark in the report which states “Those who are overly academic will discover there’s more to life” is very disparaging of this group. why? Also they would not find the challenge interesting (Too physical, sports, three peaks, etc). How do you bring them on board, (coercion with this group would not work)?

5) Some people thing that Military Training / Boot camp should be a major part of the scheme. This would be unacceptable to a lot of teenagers. As they would not be under millenary discipline (We do not have a conscript army) they could and would refuse to carry out orders. There must be alternatives, can something be worked up like the USA Peace Corps?

6) I am Dyslexic and Dysphasia, and therefore have very poor coordination, I was always the last to get picked for team games (This has left me with a hatred of team sports). There fore my experience of teams is very negative. Your scheme depends heavily on teams how would some one like my self be helped? (Teenagers like myself would not attend what ever the cost)

7) My experiences with teams and especially team leaders has resulted in me having very little respect for leaders (Be it managers, captains, etc) nor do I wish to lead a team. What good would this do the some one with my experience?

[Malcolm Dunn]

I saw your speech at conference and was struck by your obvious commitment and sincerety.However I would need to see far more details on the plan you are proposing.
At 16 my parents split up and my family went from being fairly comfortably off to being quite poor.From 16 onwards I had to work full time in all my school holidays.How would your plans fit in with people in similar situations?

[Kate Goddard, Brent Volunteer Centre]

Re: National Citizen Service for School Leavers

Dear Paul,

A key defining factor of volunteering is that it is entered into voluntarily. Introducing compulsory "volunteering" as a form of National Citizen Service may be off-putting, and sends a confusing message about the nature of volunteering.

In addition to taking on board the many points raised so far on this discussion board, I would urge you to consider the impact that this scheme could have on young people's existing motivations to willingly help others.