What do you think of this?

[Deleted User]

_No Child Unrecruited
Should the military be given the names of every high school student in America?

By David Goodman
November/December 2002 Issue

High School cadets in Mariette, Georgia

Sharon Shea-Keneally, principal of Mount Anthony Union High School in Bennington, Vermont, was shocked when she received a letter in May from military recruiters demanding a list of all her students, including names, addresses, and phone numbers. The school invites recruiters to participate in career days and job fairs, but like most school districts, it keeps student information strictly confidential. "We don't give out a list of names of our kids to anybody," says Shea-Keneally, "not to colleges, churches, employers -- nobody."
· Recruiting the Class of 2005
· No Child Left Behind Act
· Joint Letter from Secretary of Education Ron Paige and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
But when Shea-Keneally insisted on an explanation, she was in for an even bigger surprise: The recruiters cited the No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush's sweeping new education law passed earlier this year. There, buried deep within the law'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.

"I was very surprised the requirement was attached to an education law," says Shea-Keneally. "I did not see the link."

The military complained this year that up to 15 percent of the nation's high schools are "problem schools" for recruiters. In 1999, the Pentagon says, recruiters were denied access to 19,228 schools. Rep. David Vitter, a Republican from Louisiana who sponsored the new recruitment requirement, says such schools "demonstrated an anti-military attitude that I thought was offensive."

To many educators, however, requiring the release of personal information intrudes on the rights of students. "We feel it is a clear departure from the letter and the spirit of the current student privacy laws," says Bruce Hunter, chief lobbyist for the American Association of School Administrators. Until now, schools could share student information only with other educational institutions. "Now other people will want our lists," says Hunter. "It's a slippery slope. I don't want student directories sent to Verizon either, just because they claim that all kids need a cell phone to be safe."

The new law does give students the right to withhold their records. But school officials are given wide leeway in how to implement the law, and some are simply handing over student directories to recruiters without informing anyone -- leaving students without any say in the matter.

"I think the privacy implications of this law are profound," says Jill Wynns, president of the San Francisco Board of Education. "For the federal government to ignore or discount the concerns of the privacy rights of millions of high school students is not a good thing, and it's something we should be concerned about."

Educators point out that the armed services have exceeded their recruitment goals for the past two years in a row, even without access to every school. The new law, they say, undercuts the authority of some local school districts, including San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, that have barred recruiters from schools on the grounds that the military discriminates against gays and lesbians. Officials in both cities now say they will grant recruiters access to their schools and to student information -- but they also plan to inform students of their right to withhold their records.

Some students are already choosing that option. According to Principal Shea-Keneally, 200 students at her school -- one-sixth of the student body -- have asked that their records be withheld.

Recruiters are up-front about their plans to use school lists to aggressively pursue students through mailings, phone calls, and personal visits -- even if parents object. "The only thing that will get us to stop contacting the family is if they call their congressman," says Major Johannes Paraan, head U.S. Army recruiter for Vermont and northeastern New York. "Or maybe if the kid died, we'll take them off our list.

[Rapier]

I used to think we stood a chance of sorting the world out peacfully. I'm starting to doubt my convictions.

[X-Warrior B AS]

Uhm... doesn't the government know all official details about it's people anyway ? And the military is an institution linked to the government, right ? So... why would they need this information from schools anyway ?

At least it's better than cutting more money off the nation's military force, like they're trying to do here.

[Zabre]

Of the whole thing this line scares me the most!

Rep. David Vitter, a Republican from Louisiana who sponsored the new recruitment requirement, says such schools "demonstrated an anti-military attitude that I thought was offensive."

Its just the idea that anti-military can be seen as offensive.

[silentWitness]

What Luck for Rulers, That men Do not Think... - Adolf Hitler

How Ironic... The fight to defend freedom reqires every man, woman and child to give up the very thing they protect...



To Quote America's forgotten Enemy... "Workers of the World Unite... You have nothing to loose but your chains!!!" ...

HEY!!! Bush Stop giving the enemy an argument!!!

[nobbystyles]

would it not have been easier to incite national service. then every kid would have to be in the military rather than sneak a few lines in an Education Act.

[Chimpster2000]

[Jericho]

It is a little worrying that the various groups cannot communicate. Surely the government must know who attends which school? How else do you prosecute the parents when the children fail to attend?

[Gandalf The White]

I think that National service would be better. They should bring that back over hear then it would teach kids more about disaplin and respect and the chain of command.

[xaotik]

[xaotik]

[Zabre]

[Rogue]

Tis a wonderful world we live in eh?

This whole things gonna go bad real soon, so to any future pro-national service / anti-national service posters or similar, lets keep this in the realms of healthy debate, rather than unhealthy flame war. OK?

It seems to me, (and this is just my opinion of course) that with a population that large and an army that big (Even larger since Sept 11), that Drafting college kids is kinda like overkill. It's all well and good getting extra cannon fodder for bleeding duty, but what happens after the dust has cleared? All those kids lost their education and chance for a better life when they had NO CHOICE AT ALL!

Thanks Bush but no bleeding thanks would be my reply.

If I lived in the USA, which I don't.

[Chimpster2000]

[rusti_swordz]

Putting criminals into the millitary to give them 'disapline' is just making them more efficient at being criminals when they come out.

National service is a method of last resort. Those who join are by and large level headed people who want to be there. Putting already dangerous people into the millitary will only hone their evil not get rid of it.