SSL Is unpaid child labor

[Anonymous]

I remember when student service learning was about community service but it’s evolved into unpaid child labor. I just saw an ad for an after school program looking for teachers assistant for ssl hours.

This is just a rant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember when student service learning was about community service but it’s evolved into unpaid child labor. I just saw an ad for an after school program looking for teachers assistant for ssl hours.

This is just a rant.

Can you forward that ad...I’d like to sign my child up for free labor please. But in all honestly please forward the ad. My child is in search of ssl hours, you would be doing us a favor.

[Anonymous]

How many hours do they have to do, 75? And they have all of MS and HS to do it? That's barely anything.

[Anonymous]

I agree it’s mostly BS but I think it always was.
Most MC and UMC kids do lots of things that would qualify and this is just an exercise in getting those sheets signed.
And I have questions about whether it’s fair to have poor kids required to do this. So a rich kid gets SSL for watching kids at a soccer game but the poor kid doesn’t get SSL for watching her baby cousins while her aunt works a second shift.
My dad grew up poor and was very disturbed by the requirement. He got home from school and worked to help support his family until he went to sleep then got up and worked more before school. He said he didn’t know he would have found 75 hours to work for someone else’s family, even with 7 years to do it.

[Anonymous]

To most families, SSL hours are a chore to complete and not about community service anyway! Parents look for the easiest SSL hours their kids can do, so if it's at school, great.

Both sides are doing whatever it takes to get through it, OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree it’s mostly BS but I think it always was.
Most MC and UMC kids do lots of things that would qualify and this is just an exercise in getting those sheets signed.
And I have questions about whether it’s fair to have poor kids required to do this. So a rich kid gets SSL for watching kids at a soccer game but the poor kid doesn’t get SSL for watching her baby cousins while her aunt works a second shift.
My dad grew up poor and was very disturbed by the requirement. He got home from school and worked to help support his family until he went to sleep then got up and worked more before school. He said he didn’t know he would have found 75 hours to work for someone else’s family, even with 7 years to do it.

Agree. They make it too easy for rich kids and too hard for poor kids.

And OP doesn’t know what child labor really looks like.

[Anonymous]

Over half the required hours are built into the MCPS curriculum. If the kids pay attention to the in school opportunities, they can get the rest during the school day or after school over the course of a few school years.

MCPS also made many virtual opportunities available during the school from home year. It was more like student learning hours...no service involved!

[Anonymous]

All ranting and joking aside I do question how a for-profit after school program can offer SSL hours. I thought only non profits could offer ssl?

[Anonymous]

My kids got their SSL out of the way in MS early on. They loved the things they did - making food for people in homeless shelters, giving provisions to families setting up new homes, taking meals to terminal patients. They saw parts of DC they'd never otherwise visit and met a lot of people. It wasn't remotely "labor" - its not like they were shoveling coal or cleaning chimneys. It was really educational. Also I paid for most of it, so that's the complete opposite of labor.

[Anonymous]

We had a nonprofit advertise making posters for 1st responders during the pandemic. Kids poured their hearts into the work and then the non profit never made themselves available to collect the poster and never gave the ssl hours.

We now have another one where the kid made food and delivered it and uploaded pictures etc and never got the ssl hours.

Great lesson for the kids I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a nonprofit advertise making posters for 1st responders during the pandemic. Kids poured their hearts into the work and then the non profit never made themselves available to collect the poster and never gave the ssl hours.

We now have another one where the kid made food and delivered it and uploaded pictures etc and never got the ssl hours.

Great lesson for the kids I guess.

Just fill out the ssl form anyways. No one looks at them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All ranting and joking aside I do question how a for-profit after school program can offer SSL hours. I thought only non profits could offer ssl?

+
Saw a SSL posting from a law firm also

[Anonymous]

SSL-giving entities need to be approved by MCPS. PLEASE check with MCPS before having your child do the work!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All ranting and joking aside I do question how a for-profit after school program can offer SSL hours. I thought only non profits could offer ssl?

It’s easy to get ‘non-profit’ status. My neighbor ran a franchise of the Healthy Kids Running series and used kids for SSL hours as her ‘employees’.

Agree that the SSL program is a joke. Companies benefit from using the kids as ‘volunteers’.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids got their SSL out of the way in MS early on. They loved the things they did - making food for people in homeless shelters, giving provisions to families setting up new homes, taking meals to terminal patients. They saw parts of DC they'd never otherwise visit and met a lot of people. It wasn't remotely "labor" - its not like they were shoveling coal or cleaning chimneys. It was really educational. Also I paid for most of it, so that's the complete opposite of labor.

How do you figure that fits in with the goal of ‘Equity’? We’ve done lots of SSL hours where my kid bakes or buys gift cards for families. We’re fortunate enough to afford it. Might not be as easy for some families.