By Here comes another effort to keep the US military out of public schools:
How old is old enough for students to be approached by military recruiters?
High school? Junior high? Fourth grade? How about ten weeks into kindergarten?
Last week at the dinner table, my five-year-old son announced blithely, “Soldiers came to school today.” He then added, “They only kill bad people. They don’t kill good people.”
He made the announcement with the same levity he uses in recalling the plot line of Frog and Toad or a Nemo video.
My wife and I looked at each other incredulously.
“Soldiers came to school? What do you mean?” I asked.
He repeated himself and then I remembered – it was “Career Day” at school. My son mentioned a bus driver too, but it was the soldier who stuck out in his mind. When my wife asked if the soldier was cool, he nodded yes. [truthout]
Go ahead and read the rest, but basically the woman who wrote this article is claiming that the US military is targeting elementary kids to recruit. This is of course nonsense because the National Guard soldiers that came to the “Career Day” were invited by the school to pitch what they do. Plus a military job is as much as a career as being a firefighter or policeman. I have no idea if policemen attended the career day, but I have to wonder if the writer is against law enforcement as a career as well?
My unit sends soldiers every week at the request of the local elementary school to provide mentors to children with behavioral or social problems that prevents them from being in a normal classroom setting. For example one of the girls in the class is deaf and has a hard time making friends, we also have boy who is super hyper active and can’t sit still while another kid is extremely depressed because his parents put him in a group home. The soldiers help these kids with school work and have our weekly kick ball game with them at recess. The school administrators look for help from the local military base because they know the base has the personnel to support their program. If you give a soldier a choice of working in the motorpool for two hours or going to the local elementary school to play kickball with the kids the soldier is more than likely going to volunteer to help the school.
This day is often the highlight of the week for the kids and not one time has anyone made a recruiting pitch to the kids. We just had the Thanksgiving dinner at the school where all the parents come to school for lunch with their kids so we got to meet their parents and no one had any issues with the military helping out the school.
However, it would be a shame if a school stops events or programs like this that includes the military simply because one person complains about “recruiting”.
1:27 am on November 21st, 2009 1
I will be curious to see what happens in 10 years or so – once the 60s-70s counter-culture and counter-culture fadists have passed from primary positions in the society. Obama is a fadists, but I don't think he represents a generational thing. Bill and Hillary are the last of that era.
What I want to see is if new generations will rise up like that to keep in going in places like education – or will the Reagan-baby types turn some tide?
11:20 am on November 21st, 2009 2
In some countries they only have one occupation represented on career day: suicide bomber. So, I reckon these parents should be happy their kids are going to school in the US rather than Pakistan or Indonesia.
12:40 pm on November 21st, 2009 3
Okay, that comment is just plain loopy.
Whether the parent likes it or not, her kid already knew about the military. I would surmise that the kid probably thought, erroneously, that all soldiers ever did was kill (whether she had something to do with this, one can only guess…but I suspect she did). Clearly, the soldiers who visited dispelled that belief, which makes the visit a very positive one, in my opinion (and a very threatening one in her eyes).
12:48 pm on November 21st, 2009 4
By the way, soldiers did visit my school when I was a kid. It's almost insulting to suggest that's why I joined.
12:52 am on November 22nd, 2009 5
I have a good memory of a soldier in a fancy uniform coming to class and giving a talk in elementary school.
The military is an important part of America's culture and a key to its success. A once-a-year visit from a military representative is not only appropriate, it is necessary as part of the education of what it is to be American.
If the parents think otherwise, it is their job to communicate with their children and explain their viewpoints… and hope that by being good parents, the children respect their ideas more than the guy who showed up to their class and spoke for an hour.
This applies to just about everything else in life that may or may not "damage" young minds. Kids are going to learn everything on the Street anyway. Sheltering them from reality runs a big risk of them learning a skewed version of it.
Admirable representatives of authority figures and professionals such as policemen, firemen, scientists, doctors and soldiers, should be introduced to children each year so understanding and respect for the foundations of American society can be built.
While some of these groups may screw it up later, the default feelings of American citizens should be positive and respectful towards these people.
6:50 pm on November 22nd, 2009 6
I suppose some anti-war types either refuses to chill out or get real. (Probably both, considering their ideological/dogmatic stance towards anything tainted with military.) Military is just another career choice, no more and no less, especially once the draft became abolished after the Vietnam War. The current generation of Americans do not even have a single cent of worth of exposure to conscription! Also, military provides a significant 'social valve' for youngsters from disadvantaged social classes — if nothing else, there is G.I. Bill and numerous technical training available while in uniform, and college tuition is not a joking matter nowdays.
Another issue with regards to ideological/dogmatic anti-war types is that, while they easily criticize or ridicule the military, most of them have very little idea about what the military is about, how it operates, and why it sticks to a certain set of traditions even if it appears bizarre to those who are unfamiliar.
Finally, because the current US Armed Forces is an all-volunteer outfit, its recruiting behavior is practically no different from the civilian job market. All of them want a pool of youngsters who have good education (and equally importantly physical for the military) and no criminal record.