two feet in.

Goodbye JROTC

Awhile back I received a nice note from someone who came across this site after looking for information on education and militarism -- she was impressed with the range of examples of militaristic education (or educational militarism?) that I had collected here.  The story that I'm sharing today is kind of old news by now, but unfortunately still so relevant.

Back in November, the San Francisco school board voted to eliminate JROTC programs in the district:

They and other opponents say the armed forces should have no place in public schools and the military's discriminatory stance on gays makes the presence of JROTC unacceptable.

"We don't want the military ruining our civilian institutions," said Sandra Schwartz, of the American Friends Service Committee, an organization actively opposing JROTC nationwide. "In a healthy democracy ... you contain the military. You must contain the military."

Students, parents and school staff from each of the seven high schools converged outside the school board meeting carrying signs and waving at cars, some of which honked in support....

Opponents acknowledge the program is popular and even helps some students stay in school and out of trouble.

Yet they also say the program exists to lure students to sign up for the armed forces.

"It's basically a branding program, or a recruiting program for the military," Kelly said.

The school district and the military share the costs of the $1.6 million annual costs of the program, with the military paying $586,000, or half the salaries of 15 instructors -- all of whom are retired military personnel. The district pays the other half of salaries and $394,000 in benefits.

There were passionate parents and students on both sides of the issue, with many JROTC cadets expressing that this program had helped to give them a safe place to come, to instill discipline and pride, as well as "leadership and organizational skills, personal responsibility, money and time management and how to be a team player..."  When the board voted in favor of ending JROTC (and at the same time established a task force to build non-military and non-discriminatory programs to replace JROTC), there were visibly distraut and dismayed students. (you can read the full resolution here)

Around this time, I had a conversation with an Oakland high school teacher about the issue.  Even this woman, an antiwar activist, acknowledged the important role that JROTC seemed to play in the lives of many of her students.  She told of arriving to school early, leaving late, and seeing the pride and care that the JROTCers put into their uniforms, their drills, etc. 

What does it mean for us, as a society, when JROTC, half-funded by the military, is considered the "one place where [these urban high school students] feel safe."  (that's a quote from an ROTC instructor)  What does it mean when the militaristic model is the one that (is funded) to supposedly build pride and leadership?  To me it means we've got a long, long way to go. 

By the way, here is one of the representative comments sent to a student who supported, and spearheaded the petition drive to end JROTC:

"God you know how many people you have made cry & how many people hate you! & wanna Beat you up & Slap the Shit out of you!!!!"

Yup, this verbal intimidation came from JROTC students, and was accompanied by threats of physical violence towards other supporters of the resolution to eliminate the program:

...several of them [JROTC supporters] physically threatened Cristina Guitierrez, myself and others as we left [the school board meeting] -- it was scary to see them filled with so much hate. Of course, that's why we want JROTC out of our schools. (You may not be aware that JROTC students were laughing when Cristina told of being tortured by U.S. Military-trained Columbian troops.) I was also very puzzled that their 'teachers' were not there with them to counsel them after the vote was taken...

Pride, leadership, and responsibility.  We've got a long, long way to go.
 

If You've Got LITERACY and You Know It, Clap Your Hands!

All righty, I think I've been gone from the world o'blog for long enough.  Not to say that I'm back for good.   It seems that the necessitudes of burstingly full work schedule intersecting with highly unpredictable emotional-spiritual-creative-political vicissitudes have pushed these two feet toward paths unforeseen, but hopefully not permanently away from this wee corner of cyberspace. 

Yes, I may be frustrated with the dearth of public writing that I have engaged in recently, but Thank God Almighty -- I've got LITERACY!

Or, so says George Bush at yesterday's conference on Global Literacy. (via the always laugh-provoking WIIIAI)

And just in case you wonder about the top reasons have literacy, here they are (in the order presented in the LITERACY speech (you'll have to search the speech yourself for all the literacy errors present in said speech, 'cause I'm just focusing on what's most important):  PROSPERITY! 

1. "it's pretty clear; in order to be an informed consumer you have to read"
2. "In order to be able to take advantages [sic] of jobs that may come to your country as a result of expanding economic opportunity, you've got to read"
3. "In order to be a productive worker, you have to be able to read the manual."

Then, of course, he gets on to the stuff of spreading freedom and democracy:

I also strongly believe that those of us who have the benefits of living in free society must help others realize the benefits of liberty. I believe that.  I believe that's part of America's responsibility in the world.  I realize we can't impose our vision of government, nor should we try. But we believe here in America in the universality of freedom.  We don't believe freedom belongs only to the United States of America; we believe that liberty is universal in its applications.  We also believe strongly that as the world becomes more free, we'll see peace. That's what we believe.  And we're going to act on those beliefs.  But one thing that's for certain:  It is very hard to have free societies if the citizens cannot read.

That's right -- it is very difficult to have free societies if the citizens cannot read:

The past two decades of war and sanctions have also taken a heavy toll on Iraq’s education system...  The literacy rate among those between the ages of 15 and 24 is just 74 percent, the survey reveals - a rate researchers note is only "slightly higher than the literacy rate for the population at large." But this figure is lower than literacy rates for those 25-34, "indicating that the younger generation lags behind its predecessors on educational performance." [hmm, I wonder why that could be?]  The survey also indicated that the literacy rate for women in Iraq has stagnated in the past two years.

Which, then, brings us back to PROSPERITY (for the very few).  O.peration I.raqi L.iberation has indeed been a success.  Ah the joys of capitalism, and thank god I've got literacy.

What IS Math Good For?

Why, counter-terrorism, of course!  At least according to a commentary in today's SF Chronicle about how to help students become more inspired to learn math:

Another way to inspire kids is to relate mathematics to something they see every day. In order to excite students and draw funding to his school, school superintendent Ronald Ross of Roosevelt, N.Y., has begun looking into the idea of creating a curriculum involving math and counterterrorism. What kinds of topics would students learn?
...

At Los Alamos, the lab that built the atomic bomb, Cliff Joslyn uses lattice theory to mine data drawn from thousands of reports of terrorist-related activity to discover patterns and relationships that were previously in shadow.

Lattice theoretical methods developed at MIT tell us the probability that we have disabled a terrorist cell, based on how many men we have taken out and what rank they hold in the organization. Lauren McGough, a Massachusetts high school student, tested the accuracy of this model by getting her classmates to pretend they were terrorists, passing orders down a fictitious chain of command, essentially confirming what the theory predicts.

High school students could learn algebra, trigonometry, calculus and logic while also learning concrete applications involving homeland security. No longer would students yawn and ask, "What is math good for?" Beauty could defeat both terror and boredom.

We'll "inspire" students and have district-supported math curriculum that teaches kids to count how many terrorists we have "taken out."  But, if you're a teacher and try to educate, or even talk about other kinds of body counts, then you may very well be out of a job.

A "Fertile Ground" of Young Men in Uniform

A reader left the following note in the comments section to a previous post:

Tonight I attended a pinewood derby model car race in the local elememtary school gym. My eight year old nephew in cub scouts raced his small car down a gravity track. several dozen cub scouts and webelo scouts from seven years to twelve years old attended. A table was set up staffed by three national guards in camoflage uniforms. Kids were lining up to have their faces painted in camoflage colors. Other soldiers were handing out lanyards marked, National Guard. This whole thing struck me as out of place, so I walked up to the Captain, a nice looking woman and asked what they were doing there. She pleasantly replied that they were handing out stationary and addresses of soldiers in Iraq that the boys could write to. I told her I felt uncomfortable with their presence at the Scouting event for two reasons: One, it seemed like pre-recruiting. And two, it blurred the line between scouting and militarism. I pointed out that my old scout leader had explain to me that in WW2 some scouts were mistaken for paramilitary partisans and shot. And that since then, the BSA has been careful to keep the line clear between scouting and militarism, including the prohibition against parading with rifles - even dummy rifles. I don't think I convinced her but the more I think about it, the more wrong I believe it was for the National Guard to be there.

Not surprisingly, my Google search quickly found that the line between scouting and militarism is not exactly clear.  The organization, which many know excludes gays and atheists from membership, also accepts extensive "support" from all branches of the military, especially during the national jamboree events.  This so-called support goes a bit further than camoflage face painting:

Gather 32,820 young men with a talent for teamwork, a sense of adventure and an appreciation for discipline and you've got a military recruiter's dream.

Unabashedly, members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marine Corps admit the 13- to 18-year-olds assembled for 10 days at Fort A.P. Hill for the National Scout Jamboree are tailor-made to fill their ranks.

"One of the reasons we're doing this," said Senior Master Sgt. David Kinsey of the Virginia Air National Guard, "is we saw very fertile ground of young men who like to wear a uniform and like to achieve rank."

Granted, most are much too young to make a formal commitment, but that doesn't mean the officers can't take the opportunity to show off what their services offer...

Military personnel were posted throughout the area known as the Merit Badge Midway--a section of the jamboree grounds where Scouts can work toward 74 different badges...

The merit-badge stations, said retired Coast Guard Chief Boatswain Mate Richard Danley, provide the perfect opportunity to plant a seed.

"If you introduce him to motor boating, he may become interested in the Coast Guard," said Danley, who traveled from Philadelphia for the jamboree. "It's a roundabout approach"

But at the Army Adventure Area--where Scouts can take a virtual glimpse inside an armored vehicle, travel a rope bridge across the roadway and check out the most advanced medical evacuation helicopter in the world--soldiers aren't going for subtle.  They're showing a 15-minute recruitment video and once the boys pass the shiny black Humvee displayed at the entrance, they come face-to-face with a clearly labeled recruiting station.

I wonder how this all squares with the following tenet of the Boy Scout oath:  "A Scout understands there is strength in being gentle. He treats others as he wants to be treated. He does not hurt or kill harmless things without reason."  Oh, yeah, but I guess there's a "reason" for stuff like this, or so they say.

You're Never Too Young to Learn Military Rank Structure

I've written numerous times about the militarization of our children, and the various overt and more insidious ways that militarization has become inextricably linked with our structures of schooling.  Now,  we've got Marine recruiters targeting eight-year olds through their schools.  Here is an email message sent to elementary school principals in Sumner County, Tennessee (via Kos):

From: Sumner County Young Marines [mailto:sumnercountyym@bellsouth.net]
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 10:47 PM
To: [I've deleted the email addresses of the school principals]
Subject: Sumner County Young Marines
Importance: High

Dear Principals:

My name is Chris Hardin and I am the Commanding Officer for the Sumner County Young Marines. The reason I am contacting you is to see if my staff and I may either come into the schools and inform the children of the program or to see if we can send literature to the school and it be sent home with the children. We are starting a new session the beginning of February. My staff and I would like to get the information to the children no later than January 27th.

Below you will find some information about the program. Please take a moment and read over it and let me know which option would be available.

Who we are

The Young Marines is a youth education and service programs for boys and girls, ages 8 through completion of high school. The Young Marines promotes the mental, moral, and physical development of its members. The program focuses on character building, leadership, and promotes a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. The Young Marines is the official youth program of the U.S. Marine Corps and the focal point for the Marine Corps' Youth Drug Demand Reduction efforts.

Membership

The Young Marines is open to all youth ages 8 through completion of high school. The only membership requirement is that the youth must be in good standing at school. Since the Young Marines' humble beginnings, in 1958, with one unit and a handful of boys, the organization has grown to over 240 units with 10,000 youth and 3,000 adult volunteers in 46 states, the District of Columbia, and, Germany, Japan and affiliates in a host of other countries.
...

Training

Upon joining a local Young Marine unit, youth undergo a 26-hour orientation program, generally spread out over several weekly meetings. This orientation program is affectionately called "Boot Camp." The youth learn general subjects such as history, customs and courtesies, close order drill, physical fitness, and military rank structure. After graduating from Young Marine "Boot Camp", the youth have the opportunity to learn more new skills, earn rank, wear the Young Marine uniform and work toward ribbon awards. Young Marines earn ribbons for achievement in areas such as leadership, community service, swimming, academic excellence, first aid and drug resistance education.
...

Mission

The mission of the Young Marines is to positively impact America's future by providing quality youth development programs for boys and girls that nurtures and develops its members into responsible citizens who enjoy and promote a healthy, drug-free lifestyle.

Motto

Strengthening the lives of America's youth 

Young Marine Obligation

From this day forward, I sincerely promise, I will set an example for all other youth to follow and I shall never do anything that would bring disgrace or dishonor upon God, my Country and its flag, my parents, myself or the Young Marines.

These I will honor and respect in a manner that will reflect credit upon them and myself.

Semper Fidelis.

Young Marine Creed

• Obey my parents and all others in charge of me whether young or old.
• Keep myself neat at all times without other people telling me to.
• Keep myself clean in mind by attending the church of my faith.
• Keep my mind alert to learn in school, at home or at play.
• Remember having self-discipline will enable me to control my body and mind in case of an emergency.

So, they "affectionately" call their orientation program "boot-camp."  I'd like to not so affectionally call it indoctrination, and as usual it is couched in the rhetoric of "leadership," "character," and "moral" development. 

Military Recruitment and Affluent Changemakers

In the comments section Ben noticed something about the image of the concerned educator from yesterday's posting:

I like how the educator is just enough darker than her student so that she might read as Latina or African American, perhaps to encourage identification from educators from those communities while still allowing whites to see the interaction as being between two whites. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. But maybe not...

This had been on my mind as well, so I went back to the Today's Military website and did some more exploration.  The site has three main sections:  one for educators, one for parents, and one for students.  Here are the banners for each:

Educator:

Parent:


Student:

I have no doubt that each of these images was carefully designed to appeal to a specific target audience.  The advertising company that created the website, Mullen Advertising, has been hired by the DOD to create a variety of "public-facing, influencer-focused joint offline and online advertising campaigns." 

Last summer, Nick Turse had a piece in Tomdispatch.com that gave an overview of these different Internet recruiting efforts.  Here's what he wrote about Today's Military:

Another Mullen Advertising-created site is aimed at a different population. Like MyFuture, Today'sMilitary.com is a polished-looking site that lacks a ".mil" in its web address, but instead of targeting teens, the website announces that it "seeks to educate parents and other adults about the opportunities and benefits available to young people in the Military today." In JAMRS-speak that means it's a "public site targeted at influencers."

Today'sMilitary.com is filled with information on financial incentives available to those who join the military and webpages devoted to "what it's like" to be in the armed forces and how the military can "turn young diamonds in the rough into the finest force on the face of the earth." We learn that Army basic training is "[m]ore than just pushups and mess halls." In fact, quite the opposite of a torture test, it's actually a "nine-week-long journey of self-discovery." The Marines' boot camp comes across as an even more routine, though less introspective, affair with nary a mention of its rigors aside from "a final endurance test of teamwork." Scanning through the pages, we even learn that life in the military is not just "exciting, challenging and hugely rewarding," but that in their off-time, military folk "go for walks… and they even shop for antiques."

Today's Military now has full-page ads in magazines like Real Simple (a "leader in the category of women's lifestyle publications").  A look at the magazine's media kit shows that they describe their audience as "affluent change makers":

median age 43.7
25-34 22%
35-54 53%

median HHI $95,916
HHI $50K+ 82%
HHI $75K+ 64%

college-educated 89%
employed 74%
working full-time 60%
professional/managerial 48%
married 69%
with kids 44%

No surprise that a site targeted at readers of Real Simple would describe basic training as "a nine-week-long journey of self-discovery," and perhaps that, as illustrated by the pictures above, skin-color darkens as you move further away from the influencer-affluent-changemaker readers of womens lifestyle publications. 

Attention Educators: "Are You Ready to Discuss Military Options with your Students?"

No?  Luckily the Department of Defense has a website designed just for you, the concerned educator pictured above -- Today's Military! 

Ever think the Military could be a viable option or a "good fit" after high school for one of your students? Has a student ever come to you expressing an interest in enlisting?

As an educator, chances are both of those situations have arisen on more than one occasion. And if they haven't yet—since you are a valuable resource to your students—chances are they will at some point.

To better prepare you for any future discussions with your students regarding joining the Military, we've developed this guide with some helpful insights you can employ, along with corresponding next steps you can take.

Here are some of the helpful insights provided:

Insight # 1: Your local Recruiters are your best resources.
Gives the suggestion to use local recruiters as "guest lecturers in History and Social Science classes," and provides a thoughtful and handy link to find recruiters in your area. 

Insight #2: There's a lot of unreliable info out there.
Yes, indeed, your students could be led astray -- so, best to send them to the Today's Military website for the most up-to-date reliable information, or to the websites of the different armed services.  Surprise!  No link given to resources like this for use in your "two-way" conversation.  And, should I wonder why the up-to-date info doesn't include this?

Insight #3:  The ASVAB Career Exploration Program can help students realize their goals—and it's FREE.
So send your confused students to the ASVAB website for some objective career counseling sponsored by the Department of Defense.

Insight #4: Careers and training programs vary.
Today's Military will help you find the recruiter nearest you so that your students can learn about their own customized program and career options.  Don't bother checking out any counter-recruitment or alternatives to the military -- after all, see Insight #2.

Insight #5: The Military can help students achieve their goals.
And you, friendly and concerned Educator can help your students "to better understand all of the opportunities available to them and, in turn, make smarter decisions about their futures," by simply directing them to Today's Military.  Live chat links to military recruiters provided free of charge.

Those Very Dangerous Magical Creatures

There is apparently a controversy brewing at California State University, Northridge.  An ROTC Colonel has issued a formal complaint against the right of art professor, Edie Pistolesi, to  "...to help students develop ...critical and creative abilities, and ethical values of learned persons who live in a democratic society, an interdependent world..."  Here is an account of the situation (via Feminist Peace Network):

The project in a nutshell was for her art students to convert war toys (in this case toy army soldiers) into peaceful creatures.  Some students changed the soldiers into firemen and their rifles into water hoses.  Others were magical creatures, butterflies, movie characters, animals, dancers, chefs, etc.  The students included dwellings for their transformed creatures to live in.  The project reflects part of the mission statement of CSUN, "...to help students develop ...critical and creative abilities, and ethical values of learned persons who live in a democratic society, an interdependent world..."

Colonel Buck took great offense at the placement of the ankle-high art installations around the ROTC building.  He interrogated Edie and demanded to know how she ran her course, whether students were coerced to participate in this art projects that expresses a universal human value of love of peace, rather than lust for war.

He suggested that the art installations be placed "around the Chicano Studies building, or some other department."   The Colonel expressed fear that the morale of his ROTC students at CSUN might be adversely affected by artistic expression of  a culture of peaceful coexistence rather than the glamor of war.

Col. Buck was particularly worried that the art pieces would still be near his building this coming Monday and Tuesday because his ROTC students would then mostly likely see them and presumably then be discouraged from engaging in the mass murder that U.S. wars of aggression demand.

This to me is so indicative of just how aware the military is not only of the changing tide of opinion about the war in Iraq, but also about how that changing tide is affecting their abilities to recruit new soldiers.  They are relaxing standards about recruitment of high school dropouts, and accepting greater numbers of people who score at the bottom of so called military aptitude tests.  (For a sample of the unbiased nature of these tests, go here)

But, more important than all of those measures, the military certainly cannot afford the risk of allowing ROTC students to glimpse war-toys-turned-into-magical-butterflies.  Nope, that's only suitable for those already militant Chicano Studies students.

Military Recruitment for the Toddler in your Family

Via Truthout, a piece written by Victoria Harper, about the Department of Defense's latest efforts to prepare the 2-10 year old near you for future adventures in military recruitment:

The toddlers were at the pizza parlor to celebrate Kristina's 3rd birthday. A dozen youngsters jumped and clapped their hands as a giant rat, Chuck E. Cheese, came out to greet them. The Iraq War was far from my mind.

    If you have never been to Chuck E. Cheese, it is a mix of carnival and play park, with so-so pizza, lots of video games, coin operated kiddie rides, and arcade games like ski ball. The place is designed for 2- to 10-year-olds, with occasional adults playing the games. There is even a designated play area for babies. I was escorting 4 little boys for the evening, to free their parents for a night out without the children.

    A birthday party in progress caught my attention, and I watched the children clapping and singing. The stage above the little party was equipped with a number of seven-foot-tall animated puppets. From time to time, they would move around to music, shifting their eyes from side to side and batting their eyelashes. They all sang "Happy Birthday to You" and clapped their hands. The ringing of the bells and sounds of children playing the arcade games provided the background to the animated show, which ran for about 15 minutes, ending with Chuck E. Cheese walking about the room to greet the tiny children, who were thrilled to meet him.

    When the birthday party settled into eating pizza and birthday cake, a second feature began. A series of large screen TVs came to life to show Chuck E. Cheese TV. The program was, at first, MTV-like. Performers in large animal garb sang and danced through an idyllic scene with herons and alligators. A man clad in a blazing yellow shirt and red vest skipped across the screen, singing and snapping his fingers to the lively music. The scene shifted to a person dressed in a dog costume fishing in the lake with 3- and 4-year-old children and then shifted again from pictures of the children to mothers holding small babies. Although it was disjointed and a bit crazed, it was what one might expect at Chuck E Cheese.

    Then my jaw dropped: the MTV segment shifted to a promotional piece compiled by the Department of Defense! The promo showed happy, smiling soldiers in Iraq handing out toys and candies to delighted children. This was followed by a series of scenes showing war planes, tanks and more happy soldiers. This production lasted for 5 minutes of the 15-minute CEC TV show. Throughout the segment, the large animated puppets' eyes shifted toward the TV as they nodded in approval and clapped. Then their eyes shifted back to the children, who were spellbound by the movie.

    Several telephone calls I made to Chuck E. Cheese headquarters were not answered. Finally reaching someone at the local outlet, one of over 500 company owned and operated locations, I learned that the CEC TV show was a regular part of the offerings at all CEC sites and that it was run a number of times during each day.

Pizza, soda, animated puppets, and military propaganda.  Get those preschoolers ready for their All American future  -- you can never start too soon.

Back to School, and Be All You Can Be!

Note:  This essay is my own Back to School offering and reminder.  It is a compilation of previous posts which I have reworked and submitted to several online sites. 

As Labor Day draws near and children head back to school, much important attention is being focused on recruitment tactics (sanctioned by No Child Left Behind) in our country’s public secondary schools and colleges.  However, this hounding and seduction is not just happening in our high schools.  Rather, it reaches down to children as young as 8 years old.  Here, though, it is packaged as leadership, character, and discipline development, or as top-secret motivational presentations by so-called medal of freedom recipients

On April 19, 2005 Tommy Franks visited Logan Street Elementary school in Los Angeles to do what was billed as a “motivational presentation” for the school’s students.  The “non-profit, pro-military” organization that sponsored Franks' secret (without family consent or knowledge) presentation to the school's fifth graders was actually U.S. Trust, a private investment firm with $102 billion dollars in assets.   Logan Street school is 89% Latino, and 93% of the students receive free or reduced lunch.  This is exactly the population that is heavily targeted by NCLB-related recruitment efforts.  I suppose that US Trust and Franks were there to encourage the students to be all they can be?

We don't know what actually went on during Franks' performance/presentation for the fifth grade students, because apparently the video of the event has been destroyed by the school district.  However, one parent speculated:  “Rumor is that he took pictures with our community youth to be used in a future run for office bid on the republican ticket.”

Or, perhaps, Franks was priming these ten year old students for the military programs that they may soon encounter in their middle schools:  Middle School Cadet Corps, or Junior Officer Reserves Training Corps.  An article from In These Times describes how many of these programs have eleven year old students learning how to stand, march and salute in synchronization while carrying fake guns and doing push-ups for disobeying orders.  Here’s a bit from the In These Times piece that puts this kind of militarization-in-the-name-of-education into perspective:  “Proponents of the programs tout leadership training and character development. But critics quote former Defense Secretary Gen. William Cohen, who described JROTC as ‘one of the best recruiting services that we could have.’”

In an effort to further deepen our understanding, here's a bit of an interview with Nina Shokraii Rees, Assistant Deputy Secretary, Office of Innovation and Improvement, United States Department of Education:

Do you consider art and music "frills," or would you say they are necessary to a good elementary education?

Nina Shokraii Rees: It depends. If a student is attending an affluent school that has the budget to invest in such things, then I see many benefits to adding art and music courses. What I object to is focusing the attention of poor school systems on these activities. Schools should be in the business of teaching students the basics. If they fail to teach students how to read and write, it makes no sense to ask them to offer music! In a perfect world, these are decisions that I wish parents could make and pay for.

So there you have it --affluent schools get art and music.  Schools lower on the socio-economic ladder get military training (and, top-secret visits from Tommy Franks).  Countering the overt and more insidious recruitment tactics sanctioned by NCLB is certainly necessary.  However, as both educators and humans, we must also be honest and upfront about ways in which our structures of schooling, and the system's unmarked (default) language of control, also contribute to our militarized culture.

God forbid that we might focus the attention of poorer school systems on activities which might, as Paul Street wrote, help our children to evaluate and resist the endless reactionary propaganda that is foisted upon them.  Nope, that kind of leadership and discipline development might, just might, wreck one of the best recruiting services we've got.

More on Schooling and War

Bob Herbert in the New York Times, has written about army recruiting tactics in high schools.  He quotes from the recruiting handbook that gives guidance for staying ahead of the "power curve".  I've read that handbook, and you can find some crucial excerpts here.

In the final paragraphs of his op-ed, Herbert wrote:

One of the many problems here is that adolescents should not be hounded by military recruiters under any circumstances, and they shouldn't be pursued at all without the full knowledge and consent of parents or guardians.

Let the Army be honest and upfront in its recruitment. War is not child's play, and warriors shouldn't be assembled through the use of seductive sales pitches to youngsters too immature to make an informed decision on matters that might well result in their having to kill others, or being killed themselves.

Remember that this hounding and seduction is not just happening in our high schools, that it reaches down to children as young as 8 years old.  Here, though, it is packaged as leadership and discipline development, or top-secret motivational presentations by so-called medal of freedom recipients (if you have not read this post about Tommy Franks' visit to an LA elementary school, you should).

Countering the overt and more insidious recruitment tactics sanctioned by NCLB is certainly necessary.  However, as both educators and humans, we must also be honest and upfront about ways in which our structures of schooling, and the system's unmarked (default) language of control, also contribute to our militarized culture.

Our Best Recruiting Service

From Paul Street's Memorial Day Apology:

I’m sorry that I have not done more to intervene against the deceptive military recruiters and to provide meaningful alternatives to enlistment for the mostly poor and working class youth who get caught up in the military system.

I am sorry that I have not worked harder to counter and transform the poor quality and related corporate domination of our educational system, which leaves many recruits ill-prepared to evaluate and resist the endless reactionary propaganda that military recruiters, drill sergeants, fundamentalist preachers, high-school history and government teachers, parents, and dominant media authorities foist upon young minds in dark and confusing times.

The rest of the apology is good too. 

After reading it, I came across this piece from In These Times about military programs in middle and elementary schools:

Tarsha Moore stands as tall as her 4-foot 8-inch frame will allow. Staring straight ahead, she yells out an order to a squad of peers lined up in three perfect columns next to her. Having been in the military program for six years, Tarsha has earned the rank of captain and is in charge of the 28 boys and girls in her squad. This is Lavizzo Elementary School. Tarsha is 14.

The Middle School Cadet Corps (MSCC) program at the K-8 school is part of a growing trend to militarize middle schools. Students at Lavizzo are among the more than 850 Chicago students who have enlisted in one of the city's 26 MSCC programs. At Madero Middle School, the MSCC has evolved into a full-time military academy for kids 11 to 14 years old.

Chicago public schools are home to the largest Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) program, which oversees the MSCC, in the country. When moving up to high school, Chicago's graduating eighth-graders can choose from 45 JROTC programs, including three full-time Army military academies, five "school-within-a-school" Army JROTC academies and one JROTC Naval academy.

Proponents of the programs tout leadership training and character development. But critics quote former Defense Secretary Gen. William Cohen, who described JROTC as "one of the best recruiting services that we could have."
...

The elementary school cadet corps is a voluntary after-school program that meets two or three times a week. Programs differ from school to school, but MSCC students generally learn first-aid, civics, "citizenship" and character development. They also learn military history and take field trips to local military bases. Once a week, students wear their uniforms to school for inspections. Tarsha describes buffing her uniform shoes in preparation for inspection days. "Everything has to be perfect," she says. During drill practices they learn how to stand, turn and salute in synchronization. When they disobey an order, they do pushups. "Only 10," says one administrator.

Joanne Young, a sixth-grade teacher at Goethe School in Chicago, recently wrote a letter to the local school council protesting the implementation of the cadet corps in her school. "I was told that it is not a military program, yet every aspect of it is military," she wrote. "This program is training our students, as young as 11-years old, to march in formation and carry guns. ... Students could be suspended for bringing something that appears to be a weapon to our school, yet we are handing them fake guns for this program." Young, like many other teachers, feels that leadership and discipline could easily be taught in other types of after-school programs.

The student profiled at the beginning of the piece has been involved with military programs in her public school since she was 8 years old.  I repeat, 8 years old. 

Alright, to help put this all in perspective, here's a bit of an interview with Nina Shokraii Rees, Assistant Deputy Secretary, Office of Innovation and Improvement, United States Department of Education:

Laur: Do you consider art and music "frills," or would you say they are necessary to a good elementary education?

Nina Shokraii Rees: It depends. If a student is attending an affluent school that has the budget to invest in such things, then I see many benefits to adding art and music courses. What I object to is focusing the attention of poor school systems on these activities. Schools should be in the business of teaching students the basics. If they fail to teach students how to read and write, it makes no sense to ask them to offer music! In a perfect world, these are decisions that I wish parents could make and pay for.

Affluent schools get art and music.  Poor schools get military training (and, top-secret visits from Tommy Franks). 

God forbid that we might focus the attention of poor school systems on activities which might, as Paul Street said, help our children to evaluate and resist the endless reactionary propaganda that is foisted upon them.  Nope, that kind of leadership and discipline development might, just might, wreck one of the best recruiting services we've got.

An "American Soldier" Goes to School

And you thought that military recruitment just goes on in high schools and colleges:

LOS ANGELES [April 19, 2005]  A small but militant group of anti-war protesters confronted retired Iraqi war general Tommy Franks this morning as he left a student assembly at Logan Street Elementary School in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.

General Franks, attempting to leave the school in an SUV with tinted windows, was totally blocked by protesters who climbed onto the hood and body of the car and blocked his departure with banners, signs and their own bodies. "War criminal! Murderer of the Iraqi People!" and other chants were directed at the car as it remained immobilized in the middle of the street.    Parents and community people, outraged by the appearance of the general, joined in the direct confrontation which came as the vehicle was leaving campus.
...
   The protest, called and organized in a three-hour time frame, came about when parents, teachers and community members learned of the appearance of General Franks at the school.  The school's administration and Los Angeles Unified School District officials kept the appearance a secret from the community.  "We had no idea this was going to happen," a veteran teacher told reporters.  A parent commented, "I didn't know a military man was speaking to our children today; we should have been told," she told KNX Radio News in an interview. Many parents, speaking in Spanish, told protesters they did not like the idea of the military being on campus promoting that option to their young people.

Logan Street is a grade school in a working class, heavily immigrant community just west of downtown Los Angeles.  The general was brought to the campus by a non-profit pro-military foundation which arranges celebrity appearances.

The "non-profit, pro-military" organization that sponsored Franks' secret (without family consent or knowledge) presentation to the school's fifth graders was actually U.S. Trust, a private investment firm with $102 billion dollars in assets.  Logan Street school is 89% Latino, and 93% of the students receive free or reduced lunch.  This is exactly the population that is heavily targeted by NCLB-related recruitment efforts.  I guess that US Trust and Franks were there to encourage the students to be all they can be?

We don't know what actually went on during Franks' performance/presentation for the fifth grade students, because apparently the video of the event has been destroyed by the school district.  However, one parent speculated:  "Rumor is that he took pictures with our community youth to be used in a future run for office bid on the republican ticket."

If you ever had any doubts about the interrelationship of empire, racism, and poverty when it comes to education and schooling in our country, then things like this begin to put it all in perspective.

How to Make Yourself Indispensible and Stay Ahead on the Power Curve: A Month by Month Plan

Here's a month-by-month plan for your friendly, and soon-to-be-indispensible-in-a-school-near-you, army recruiter:

August:  The football team usually starts practicing in August.  Contact the coach and volunteer to assist in leading calisthenics or calling cadence during team runs.

September:   The high school (HS) registration may be hectic.  Go to the HS, offer your assistance in registration and any other administrative help you can give. Remember: You need all the blueprint information on your HS you can get.  The good HS program is a proactive one; the early bird gets the worm.  This means, first to contact, first to contract.

October: 

• HS Homecoming normally happens in October.  Coordinate with the homecoming committee to get involved with the parade.  Use a tactical vehicle as described in paragraph 5-3.  Offer to be a chaperon or escort for homecoming activities and coronations.
• Get involved with local Boy Scout troops. Scoutmasters are typically happy to get any assistance you can offer.  Many scouts are HS students and potential enlistees or student influencers.

November:  Prior to Thanksgiving, many student organizations gather food baskets for needy citizens.  Offer your assistance and get involved. Offer your recruiting station as a collection point and volunteer to distribute the food baskets.

December: 

• Contact college students who are home during the holidays (remember that many first year college students do not return to school after the first semester).
• Offer to be a timekeeper at football games.
• Participate in HS holiday events.
• Get with other service recruiters and compare the size of your future Soldiers pool to theirs.  Are you behind the power curve?  Which service is doing well and what should you do to alter your sales presentations?

January: 

• Contact your first-year college students to see if they returned to school.  How is their second semester financial situation?
• Turn up the tempo on contacting your juniors.  Get a jump on the competition.
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday is in January.  Wear your dress blues and participate in school events commemorating this holiday.

February:  Contact the HS athletic director and arrange for an exhibition basketball game between the faculty and Army recruiters.  This is an excellent way to build rapport in the HS.

March: 

• Continue to advertise in school newspapers and conduct class presentations.
• Award certificates of appreciation to key influencers.

April:

• Track and field meets begin.  Offer to be a timekeeper or a coach’s assistant.
• Baseball season starts.  Offer assistance to the coach.

May:  Since Memorial Day occurs in May, there are normally many patriotic events in the community and in the schools during this month. Contact the HS to find out what events they are involved with and offer any assistance possible.

June: 

• Coordinate with school officials to determine if they can use your assistance during summer school.  The faculty is normally shorthanded during the summer and they will probably welcome your help.
• Maintain close contact with your future Soldiers.  Secure their HS diplomas and ensure you get copies of them to the Military Entrance Processing Station prior to their ship date.

And... Don't forget to deliver donuts and coffee to the faculty once a month!

Above all:  "Be indispensable to school administration, counselors, faculty, and students. Be so helpful and so much a part of the school scene that you are in constant demand, so if anyone has any questions about the military service, they call you first!"

Yes, indeed -- be all you can be.

And all this when that indispensible recruiter is not phoning your child at home or knocking on your door courtesy of NCLB.  They certainly do have our best interests at heart.

And you call this a "balanced" presentation?

This probably wasn't, but could have been, an example of the "balanced" materials that the military recruiters that I wrote about yesterday are handing out in the Tennessee school:

If you are wondering about exactly how (un)balanced this is, then read on...

The image you see here might lead you to believe that the child in the picture has been made "glad" and secure thanks to the U.S. troop presence in Iraq...  The original photo, taken by a journalist, depicted a young girl who had just received bullet wounds during a firefight in which her mother was killed and her father was wounded. Eddy doctored the photo by erasing the little girl's own face (which carries the listless expression you would expect from an injured child) and replacing it with someone else's face to make her look positively radiant and adoring.

I don't even know where to start writing in order to express my disgust.  So, I'll just virtually wonder out loud if the Tennessee principal would find these materials offensive?  Even if he did (which I doubt), he would not be able to ban the military from his school as he did with the Quakers.  Because, the law of our land mandates that the military be there, or at least that they have contact information for all students -- so that they can, of course, give a "balanced" presentation about military career options. 

peace is so very offensive

From Undernews, my favorite resource for outrageous school stories...

An administrator in a Tennessee high school has decided to ban groups from his school who passed out the following "anti-American" materials, which he considered to be "offensive":

One pamphlet had a quote from a 1953 speech by President Eisenhower that said, ''Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed. Those who are cold and are not clothed.''

Another quote from an unknown author said, ''The Army that can defeat terrorism doesn't drive Humvees, or call in airstrikes. ... It undermines military dictatorship and military lobbyists. It subverts sweatshops and special interests.''

The materials were available for students at a school fair for various organizations.    The Quaker group's table displayed books about U.S. wars and offered photocopied fliers and pamphlets from both organizations about the war in Iraq and alternatives to military careers. 

No student was forced to the table, no student was called at home, no American flags were burned.  But, says the principal, there was no opportunity for a "balanced" presentation, so the Quakers will not be allowed back to the school.

No balanced presentation!  Apparently, however, this rule doesn't apply to everyone:

...buried deep within [NCLB's] 670 pages, is a provision requiring public secondary schools to provide military recruiters not only with access to facilities, but also with contact information for every student -- or face a cutoff of all federal aid.

The military recruiters at the same fair don't have to worry about balanced presentation, as they are welcomed with the open arms of the government.   And this is not offensive?