Posted on 06/17/2005 5:49:39 AM PDT by robowombat
Military Recruiters Draw Fire at Schools Associated Press June 17, 2005
PHILADELPHIA - Nancy Carroll didn't know schools were giving military recruiters her family's contact information until a recruiter called her 17-year-old granddaughter.
That didn't sit well with Carroll, who believes recruiters unfairly target minority students. So she joined activists across the country who are urging families to notify schools that they don't want their children's contact information given out.
"People of color who go into the military are put on the front line," said the 67-year-old Carroll, who is black.
A provision of President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act requires school districts to provide military recruiters with student phone numbers and addresses or risk losing millions in federal education funding. Parents or students 18 and over can "opt out" by submitting a written request to keep the information private.
But critics say schools do not always convey that message. In New Mexico, the American Civil Liberties Union chapter sued the Albuquerque Public School District last month, charging it does not adequately inform parents of the opt-out provision.
Some critics oppose the federal law on privacy grounds, but others say it provides an unfair opportunity for the military to sway young minds - especially in economically depressed communities.
"They're not going to all the schools. They're going to the schools where they figure the kids will have less chance to go to college," said U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash. "It's an insidious kind of draft, quite frankly."
Carroll, who is raising three grandchildren in a working-class neighborhood of Philadelphia, agrees that the practice is unfair. "I wouldn't want them to join" the military, she said of her grandchildren.
But Pentagon officials say the military deserves the same access to students that schools give to colleges and employers.
"In the past, it was all too common for a school district to make student directory information readily available to vendors, prospective employers and post-secondary institutions while intentionally excluding the services," Air Force Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
As military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan drag on, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines are having trouble attracting recruits to their reserve forces, though only the Army is falling short in attracting people for its active-duty ranks.
Andrew Rinaldi, a senior at Edison High School in Edison, N.J., filed an opt-out letter with his school but said he was contacted by a recruiter anyway. He said the recruiter mocked his pacifist views. "They're becoming more aggressive," he said.
None of the nation's approximately 22,600 high schools has failed to comply with the military provision of No Child Left Behind, and just one is "finalizing its compliance," Krenke said. None has lost funding.
Before No Child Left Behind was signed into law in 2002, about 12 percent of the nation's schools refused to turn over student records to military recruiters, Pentagon officials said. U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who sponsored the recruitment provision, called the actions of those schools "offensive."
Now, activists are holding rallies and awareness campaigns to make sure school districts know they can opt out.
In left-leaning Montclair, N.J., more than 80 percent of Montclair High School students have opted out since a student-led effort began last year.
"It's a place where military recruiters are not likely to have a ton of success, anyway, partly because ... a lot of parents can assist their kids with going to college," school district spokeswoman Laura Federico said.
In the urban blight of North Philadelphia, Joshua Gordy said the lure of college money led him to join the Army reserves at age 17. Recruiters at his high school told him he could earn $35,000 for college, he said.
That hasn't happened. Gordy, a 20-year-old reservist, said he apparently failed to send in the right paperwork in time. He hopes to enroll in community college this fall.
McDermott, a psychiatrist, faults the military for enticing students with talk of patriotism, adventure and college funds, instead of giving them a realistic view of combat.
McDermott is among those in Congress trying to change the law so that students instead "opt-in" for recruitment.
"There's nothing dishonorable with serving in the military," said McDermott, a psychiatrist who served stateside during Vietnam. "But it ought to be done with your eyes open."
"People of color who go into the military are put on the front line," said the 67-year-old Carroll, who is black.
Wrong. http://www.manews.org/0203pentagon.html
What a dope.
FMCDH(BITS)
Liar.
"They're not going to all the schools. They're going to the schools where they figure the kids will have less chance to go to college," said U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash. "It's an insidious kind of draft, quite frankly."
Oh yeah, well recruiters should target people who aren't likely to join then?
McDermott's a shrink?!?!??!! Well, that explains a lot, doesn't it. Since many of the islamoterrorists are on psych drugs to make them even more suicidal this explains why McDermott is so sympathetic. He's protecting his profession.
"People of color who go into the military are put on the front line," said the 67-year-old Carroll, who is black.
What an idiot.
(rant off)
Why give bandwidth to this BS nutjob?
No comment on the racial thing...it does not deserve a comment it's so ridiculous.
But my son is a HS junior and we get recruiting packets almost every week from different branches of the Armed Forces.
Received one from the Navy yesterday. I read it to my husband. The recruiting info touts the idea that you can earn college credits while in the service and get paid at the same time. Also used the word "cool" to describe the Navy experience.
They're definitely targeting a certain group of kids. Kids that don't intend to or maybe think they can't afford to go to college.
But I thought using the word "cool" was a little over the top.
Sorry, but that lie has apparently been repeated enough to be considered true...by the very stupid, that is.
Maybe the military needs to promote the fact to "people of color" (I hate that term. I have color, too.) that white people are doing more of the dangerous work in the military and that they (POC) can get desk jobs, etc., and watch those white folks get their a$$e$ blown off for them.
My son's Army INFANTRY unit (now in Iraq), you know, the ones that ARE in the middle of the fight, is mostly white, largely white. It's been that way since he's been serving for seven years now. The demographics of the unit show that there's less percentage of minorities than in general society in comparison.
Interestingly enough, he said that it seems that Artillery units (cannon cockers) have a higher precentage of minorities, why do you think that is?
The "minorities doing the only fighting" is a lie, an outright lie. Jugs Burkett in "Stolen Valor" (and others now) did an interesting study on that lie perpetrated by the Left in the 60s. No, they just have to step up to the plate, quit hiding behind Mamma's skirts, I'm sick of whining minorities.
I get so confused.... Minorities are just as smart or smarter than whites, right? Then why do they need more protection from the evil recruiters than the white kids?
Aren't they smart enough to make their own decisions?
Apparently not, if they need this kind of special treatment.
I get so confused...
You can receive college credits. I did it while I served in the 80's. If your only complaint is they used the word cool (which kids don't use much any more) then you really are grasping at straws.
How much mail do you receive from credit card companies or other companies wanting you to buy this or that?
So they are stating a fact that you can get college credit and college money to enlist. I am not seeing a problem here. The kids still must say yes.
Mr, McDermott are you aware that Planned Parenthood targets minority neighborhoods and if your a person of color they put you on the front line for an abortion?
Mr, McDermott are you aware that Planned Parenthood targets minority neighborhoods and if your a person of color they put you on the front line for an abortion?
Remember The Simpson's epidode with LT Smash"? Nioj eht yvan.
No problem with the mailings. My kid is a junior but takes all his classes at the local college, so he runs into recruiters on campus all the time too.
My point was, the mailing (the one I read in detail) was specifically targeting kids who wanted a college education and didn't think they could afford it.
There was even a quote in there about not believing people when they say you can't get a good education.
Nothing wrong with that, just an observation.
My 12 years of active duty in the Navy were, all in all, pretty "cool." It had its moments that could be described with other less desirable adjectives, but overall "cool" is an accurate description.
You can earn not just credits while in the Navy. You can earn degrees, if you work hard and avail yourself of all opportunities. The courses are even available while deployed in war zones. I received college credits, base pay, sea pay, and hazardous duty pay at the same time. That advertisement "touted" the truth. Kind "cool" huh?
So these high school students are going to be swayed into joining the military because they are so impressionable. Yet when sex education, homosexuality, etc., is taught to grade schoolers, that's okay? I'm going to rewrite the sentence: I fault the schools for enticing students with talk of tolerance, diversity, sexual adventure and fun, instead of giving them a realistic view of disease, unwed parenthood, and the reality of abortion. Okay, Dr. McDermott, are you with me now?
And here's a PS to grandma: if you don't want your grandchildren joining the military, talk to them about it. It isn't your decision (kind of like it's not a parent's decision if a minor has an abortion, you know?). If they are adults, however, guess what: not your decision anymore. But isn't it funny how the schools can undermine parental values from grade school on up when it comes to family issues, but oh my goodness, if we offend the pacifists with military recruiters, it's a national emergency.
Sorry for the rant, but this stuff really ticks me off... Conservatives continually are told to shut up when it coms to indoctrination at the schools, while the liberals see military recruiters in high school, get the vapors and demand this outrage cease immediately!
Good to see that she did such a good job in raising her own children that she gets a chance to do the same with her grandchildren.
Just my two cents, but kids who go after the 11 series MOS's join with the idea of having an adventure and actively pursue infantry. Those with 13 series maybe don't really know what job they want and the Army needs gunbunnys so the friendly folks at MEPS steer them in that direction. Because of economic differences white kids are more likely to join out of that sense of adventure, while minorities maybe join seeking an opportunity without a firm idea of what particular job they want.
Regarding the nitwits comments, a 20 second web search for the demographics of casualties (available through the SecDefs website) would have shown that minorities do not bear the brunt of casualties in Iraq. McDermott is simply an enemy of America.
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