Barack Obama called for "service" from high school and college students. Quoted in the Rocky Mountain News.

"Just as we teach math and writing, arts and athletics, we need to teach young Americans to take citizenship seriously. Study after study shows that students who serve do better in school, are more likely to go to college, and more likely to maintain that service as adults. So when I'm President, I will set a goal for all American middle and high school students to perform 50 hours of service a year, and for all college students to perform 100 hours of service a year. This means that by the time you graduate college, you'll have done 17 weeks of service."

Service? Such as providing food, fuel, transportation, communication, manufactured goods, raw materials and entertainment to society? People who perform these real services hold "jobs" and they even get paid to do so. Is Mr. Obama suggesting students hold part time jobs? Or join the Armed Services part time?

In my youth I participated in American Friends Service Committee work projects in Philadelphia. At the time it seemed like a worthy cause, but looking back on it, I doubt that anything we did on work weekends was as helpful as real paying jobs for those people would have been.

Real service is a paying job.