Canadian here!
Personally (as far as Canada is concerned), I don't think we need a mandatory enlistment. We have enough of our own troupes to go around regardless, and we're generally considered a pacifistic nation, that doesn't get involved with many wars. This is largely due to the United States being right underneath us (with all their firepower and all XD). If a major conflict came along, I can see how it may be necessary. For the most part though, I don't think that people should be forced to do something that they don't want to do. I understand the benefits of how this would affect maturity and responsibility, but I think that the education system does a well enough job on its own. Maybe not for some students, but for those who actually care about their education, basic schooling is enough to make students "smarten up".
Basically, I agree completely with pirate.
Originally Posted by
pusga
most education is incredibly biased. almost every subject of study is taught with a predetermined moral or political position, leaving no space for the students' interpretation. this results in teachers emphasizing on how governments are "evil" and on how we should all fight them, using a few examples of when it worked in the past.
See, this may be the case for some people, but at my school, this isn't an issue. Heck, I go to a catholic school (I'm not catholic), but they still teach us about evolution, other major and important religions, the pros and cons of each political party (without expressing favouritism for either), our history lessons look at Canada's good achievements and our bad ones, and we seldom talk about the government with a strong positive or negative opinion. The closest thing to that is that my english teacher has a pretty big preference for girls... but since I'm a strong student and she likes me, I'm tied for the highest mark in the class (along with my female friend, [who will probably end up with 1% higher than me for an unexplained reason lol]).