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Article By: David Swanson, AfterDowningStreet.org
Military recruiters will be paying a visit to students at Churchill High School on Tuesday, September 18th.
We'll be there too!
Join activists from PeaceAction Montgomery, Iraq Veterans Against the War,
Code Pink Women for Peace and other groups at 7:00 am to greet military
recruiters, parents and students as they enter the Churchill High School
Parking lot in Potomac, Maryland. We'll be distributing truth-in-recruiting
literature produced by the American Friends Service Committee.
http://www.afsc.org/youthmil/resources/Default.htm
Churchill is located at 11300 Gainsborough Rd in Potomac. It's a mile north
of the Beltway on 270, then West on Democracy; North on Seven Locks; West on
Tuckerman to Gainsborough.
Can you get up a little early, grab a strong cup of Joe and join us at 7 in
the morning?
Bring a smile for the cameras and signs that express your outrage.
The three R's don't include recruiting!
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Background Information:
Students at Churchill HS have been receiving postcards from Army recruiters
that ask students to call or email specific recruiters who will arrange to
meet with them at the school on September 18th. We know the military has
access to the names, addresses and phone numbers of our children but this
represents an escalation of their tactics in Montgomery.
High schools across the country have become quite militarized over the last
few years and Montgomery has an open door policy toward military recruiters.
Guidance counselors and principals work with recruiters to encourage
students with limited career and college options to consider a military
career. "School ownership is the goal," states the Army's School Recruiting
Program Handbook, the guide for all Army recruiters on how to entice high
school students to enlist. Aside from regularly sending recruiters to
fraternize with students in school hallways and cafeterias, the military
operates several programs through our schools:
ASVAB
Consider this section the Churchill High School (Potomac, MD) Website:
"Not sure what you want to do when you grow up? Take the ASVAB Career
Exploration Test Thursday, January 18th following the last semester exam.
Sign up in the College/Career Center."
It sounds innocuous but it's actually insidious. The ASVAB, or Armed
Services Vocational Aptitude Battery is just one tool the military uses to
recruit vulnerable youth from our high schools. Guidance counselors
encourage all youth to participate in the military's "Career Exploration
Program."
According to the US Army Recruiting Command's School Recruiting Program
Handbook, the primary purpose of this test is to provide military recruiters
"with a source of leads of high school juniors and seniors qualified through
the ASVAB for enlistment into the Active Army and Army Reserve." Visit the
military's official "ASVAB" website and see if you can determine what the
ASVAB acronym stands for, (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) or if
the program has anything to do with the military:
http://www.asvabprogram.com/
Why do we allow the military to enter our schools under false pretenses to
administer a test they give to new recruits when they enter boot camp? Have
we completely surrendered our schools to the military industrial complex?
JROTC
Despite the military's contention that the Junior Reserve Officer Training
Corps (JROTC) is a benevolent program established to nurture wayward youth,
JROTC's actual
purpose is to "provide leads and prospect referrals to their USAREC and
National Guard counterparts" according to military manuals.
The military's Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) is the only
course in Montgomery taught for credit by non-degreed individuals. In fact,
JROTC instructors, who are paid on a par with certified teachers, are only
required to hold a GED.
The county exercises no curricular oversight regarding the four-year course
which includes lessons in government, politics and history. Army JROTC texts
are out of synch with history texts commonly used in the schools. They
include reactionary statements like this: "America went to war on the side
of Cuba to help that country gain its freedom from Spain." or this: "When
the Soviet Union evacuated North Korea in 1948, they left behind a Communist
puppet government that did not allow free elections to unify Korea. In 1949,
the Americans withdrew from South Korea and left a democratic government led
by Syngman Rhee." The texts smack of a pro-military, revisionist historical
bias.
JROTC runs counter to school programs that stress nonviolence and conflict
mediation.
JROTC students routinely drill with life-like rifles. Yet if non-JROTC
students were caught with a saber, a rifle, or even a toy gun, they would be
subject to expulsion and arrest in Montgomery.
Access to students
Depending on the school, military recruiters are allowed to fraternize with
students and are often invited into the cafeteria at lunchtime. Some
schools allow recruiters to "hang" with children in the parking lot.
Although federal law guarantees equal access for college and military
recruiters, military recruiters are frequently given access to the entire
student body while college recruiters are relegated to the guidance office
and must schedule private appointments with students. Montgomery leaves it
up to individual principals to develop and enforce policies regarding
military recruiters. Despite our efforts, the school system is unwilling to
implement system-wide policies.
Opt-Out Form
Only a small fraction of students in Montgomery have completed the county's
form that effectively removes their name from lists being furnished to the
military. The county could be more pro-active in advising parents and
students of their right to opt-out of lists being forwarded to the military.
Check out the MCPS website and see if you can find the opt out form:
http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/ Like school systems
across the country, Montgomery is intimidated by the U.S. military.
The federal law that allows military recruiters to have access to the names,
addresses, and phone numbers of our children also allows for students
themselves to remove their names from lists being forwarded to the military.
http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg112.html#sec9528
Contrary to federal law, Montgomery does not allow for students to opt
themselves out and Montgomery insists that students and parents must opt out
annually to remain off the lists being sent to recruiters.
For more information, see www.nnomy.org
Pat Elder agentforchange@comcast.net
Debbie Tolson DebbieTolson4WCW@aol.com
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