[speaker001:] hi
[speaker002:] I don't know much about this topic let me ask you does she spell her name with two Ns and an E
[speaker001:] uh no she doesn't okay
[speaker002:] oh okay well then we're all right okay that would have been totally weird
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] I have no idea who listens to this
[speaker001:] oh yeah that's right well we'll find out later they've got this all reported I guess
[speaker002:] there you go yeah  oh right I didn't know there was a proposal to serve young people to have a year of public service
[speaker001:] actually I didn't either um uh I really wasn't familiar with that and um I didn't even realize I had put that as you know this must be something fairly new because I don't remember this as even being one of the topics you know had to put have be discussed
[speaker002:] yeah I didn't I didn't either are you from Pennsylvania
[speaker001:] yes
[speaker002:] are you from Pittsburgh
[speaker001:] oh God close Johnstown
[speaker002:] ha we're not suppose to do this I I can I'm from originally from Beaver County oh my God
[speaker001:] oh your kidding
[speaker002:] no I could smell an accent a mile away
[speaker001:] oh isn't that fun only people from there can tell everyone else is where did you get that weird accent
[speaker002:] are you in Pennsylvania or Dallas right now
[speaker001:] uh no right now I'm in uh Washington DC area
[speaker002:] oh okay
[speaker001:] and you're in Dallas
[speaker002:] yes I'm in Dallas my husband's a TIer
[speaker001:] okay oh okay well my yeah actually my husband he's with the uh he's with the federal government and uh I'm a civil engineer but I'm taking a year off
[speaker002:] are you my oh how nice
[speaker001:] um what uh how do you feel about uh the the young people are they are are they talking uh do you think eighteen years of age like right or during high school
[speaker002:] I don't know I'd first of all is there a proposal in this I mean is there a legitimate proposal I didn't see that on the list but I guess it's unless yeah
[speaker001:] I've never heard of such of thing this is this is really a surprise to me I wasn't total I'm glad it was you because I was afraid I'd get some guy on here that knows all about this
[speaker002:] yeah really I guess I would say that if there is one I would think that they are talking eighteen years or twenty one years of age
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] but I personally don't think it's a good idea for a year I would look at it more as a uh internship kind of thing maybe three months through you know ninety days to six months or something um but more than that I would have a problem with it
[speaker001:] uh-huh yes and and how do how do you think that they would propose to do is far as if uh a person is coming out of high school and going to college how could you know I wonder how they could possibly
[speaker002:] enforcement
[speaker001:] uh if this would be a voluntary thing or a mandatory
[speaker002:] yeah the way the the way the voice might have worded it it sounded almost mandatory as opposed to elected and I would obviously I mean not obviously but I would be against anything like that being mandatory
[speaker001:] yes it did yeah well I think I would also and I think it it really uh would be very difficult in terms of uh you know people I'm thinking mainly people going to college I don't see how
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] how with uh the work load kids have nowadays and what often most college students I'm like maybe when we went to school I don't know how long ago you went but
[speaker002:] thirty something
[speaker001:] yeah me too and and uh you know I think it it's it's most of them now carry part-time jobs on top of having fifteen or sixteen credits
[speaker002:] there you go yeah  that and thus think I mean I don't know I went to uh even though I'm from that part of the country I did go to high school in uh the Midwest and Chicago and I we had it was mandatory that we took civics every year
[speaker001:] yeah oh really
[speaker002:] yeah it was a mandatory and then you had to take a test that showed you had a certain knowledge of state government and state service and they did offer actually certain types of public service internships that I think is a very good idea that that's mandatory
[speaker001:] yeah I see yeah
[speaker002:] but I don't know how any I mean the whole thing sounds a little bit ludicrous but that's my word
[speaker001:] yeah the other thing I think that they could do possibly is with um I don't know when I went to school we had um in our social studies we had it divided into for every report card period like there were five or six six week sessions and we could pick what we wanted
[speaker002:] uh-huh right
[speaker001:] to take you know whether you wanted to study American Indians or this or that maybe as one of those six week sessions instead of having a class um or have the class but as part of that or part of the credit would be to do something like that on a voluntary basis
[speaker002:] and when they're younger not when they're getting into undergraduate and college age
[speaker001:] yeah yeah I I uh I really I'm bewildered as far as how they could even work something like this in if they try to make it mandatory
[speaker002:] I don't yeah and I maybe that's not what they meant maybe that's just the way both of us took the wording but I I think it's a good I get idea to get younger people involved in the government in some way or the public you know happenings it's just they they're not aware of why things cost what they do why things operate the way they do but I just
[speaker001:] right right and in this area there's so much going on volunteer wise like for home life uh I you know I know it's for
[speaker002:] you mean in the in the area of geographic region you're in uh-huh
[speaker001:] yeah yeah there there are many organizations uh feed the hungry all these there's a lot of drives in school for this type of thing already you know not neccessarily sometimes um
[speaker002:] grass roots effort
[speaker001:] they might even have I know uh with a niece and nephew of mine they're school was uh like uh church school and they even had things where they would have them go to shelters downtown and help for a day
[speaker002:] uh-huh huh oh my
[speaker001:] or um what a lot of kids do here is um they have things to school where they have actual they have a holiday game night but every your uh your uh fee if you want to call it or the way you get admitted to going to this show is to
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] bring a can or two for the hungry
[speaker002:] oh yeah they do that I mean in in in north Texas they do that quite a bit where you know if you want to go to this particular movie or concert or a discounted thing the big thing down here is rodeos uh if you
[speaker001:] uh-huh oh yeah that's quite different from up here I guess yes
[speaker002:] yeah really I'm I'm bite my lip I'm not going to talk Pennsylvania it's just listening to you I just talked to my brother it's like really weird coincidence yeah uh um I really don't think they can do it though I mean I I you know I think that things that your talking about like anything that emphasizes the social services
[speaker001:] yeah that is this yeah that is pretty wild that is pretty wild yeah
[speaker002:] with the public service I
[speaker001:] right right or yeah I think they can integrate maybe a short period of time in with high school students and get them to be aware that you know they're not uh especially teenagers they're not the only ones around and what maybe their
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] you know their parents are going through especially I know in an area like this it's uh fairly affluent and and kids here are really out of touch with reality I always call it Disneyland here
[speaker002:] are they even are you are you in northern Virginia or are you in the District of Columbia
[speaker001:] uh we're in no we're in uh where they call it now north Potomac it's it's a town but it's close to Potomac
[speaker002:] yeah okay
[speaker001:] and um you know you see sixteen year olds driving around in brand new BMWs and it's just unbelievable you know
[speaker002:] yeah that's we're in a yeah that's we're in a near next to a town called Plano Texas and it's very um it's like Falls Church Alexander I mean Montgomery County I'm familiar with where you're at um and they really that's a good way to put it I know
[speaker001:] right yeah
[speaker002:] I went to high school in the city of Chicago at an inner city school although I lived in a different area near a place called Evanston Illinois
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] and the reason that I stayed at the school I did was because at Evanston township which back then was like one of the three larger schools in the country
[speaker001:] yes
[speaker002:] everybody was already doing the um driving the beamers and you know with nothing to think that um they didn't have five hundred dollar wardrobes you know every week that kind of thing
[speaker001:] yeah yeah yeah
[speaker002:] I I just I just think the one thing they do so strongly about is what your saying that I don't think kids have a sense of civic responsibility
[speaker001:] no they don't
[speaker002:] I think then that's a step away from even duty I don't think they even have a sense of the responsibility
[speaker001:] right and I think one other area here is that um this is typically what we call in this area yuppie area and people aren't my kids you know other than you know occasionally they're not even aware that there are people over fifty that
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] exist you know and and I think it might be another good public service might be to have them help out in geriatric homes or you know this type of thing they are around uh
[speaker002:] this is true yeah yeah I think the one thing the the there's a program called uh Habitat For Humanity that Jimmy Carter started the former president and I think I think programs like that with what you just talked about going on in your area local area at and something like that would be good
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh yeah
[speaker002:] you know but not that specifically but things along that of of activity
[speaker001:] right and I I in general I feel that um I don't know what this still proposes far as what age or or how they would do this but I feel that reaching the kids when they're younger is better though I think once they're out of high school they're so into their own thing that I think it would be very difficult maybe by that time they're too uh calloused to what is even going on you know where as younger children it's the it's the grade school children when there say no to drugs and that type of thing in school
[speaker002:] formed yeah they're already right
[speaker001:] they're the ones that'll come home and tell you you know you shouldn't smoke it's bad for you shouldn't drink it's bad for you
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and I think it's the younger it's the younger uh kids that it reaches more and so if they want to start this type of thing it should be integrated maybe from a young age and and
[speaker002:] uh-huh yeah I agree with you like pre junior high and and um see and make it you know a curriculum oriented type of proposal as opposed to anything mandated like the old selective service or anything so it sounds like we're in agreement with that
[speaker001:] yes right right yeah I think so uh
[speaker002:] anything any else we can we can talk about
[speaker001:] I don't know I guess that's it say hi to Pittsburgh if you're
[speaker002:] talk about Pittsburgh yeah your right it's like I mean this is very strange because I'm not in that part of the country I don't care if they listen I'm not in that part of the country I don't want to offend you I and I'm not in their part of the country so what I hear all my best friends are in western Pennsylvania and it's like oh
[speaker001:] yeah yeah you miss yeah I don't know if you miss it or not but
[speaker002:] yeah I I do I mean I didn't grow up totally there because of a parent parental divorce in my family but um you know it was always shuttle back and forth so uh it's like two homes but yeah I miss it
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah well this is a good area because you're far enough away and yet you're close you know so holidays and things or whatever you wanted to you can be there but
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] um you know I enjoy being here I don't know if I'd ever you know I might go back there eventually one day it's a depressed area uh right now you know
[speaker002:] yeah really is they've cleaned it up a lot though I mean I don't think we'll get in trouble doing that
[speaker001:] oh yeah oh Pittsburgh I lived there four years I I liked when I was a teenager and early twenties and I liked it there a lot people didn't but I really enjoyed it
[speaker002:] yeah I lived there in my early twenties too before I moved
[speaker001:] oh that's the
[speaker002:] that's weird I hope we never met