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TechnoratiPeace Group Barred From Florida Schools
TAMPA, Florida - Public school districts in two Florida counties are refusing to allow members of a peace organization to counter the presence of military recruiters by talking with high school students about options other than joining the service, according to a spokesperson for the group.
"They (the Manatee and Sarasota County School Districts) are saying that we can't go on their campuses because we aren't offering any sort of information on post-secondary opportunities," said Don Thompson, co-chairman of the Coalition of Concerned Patriots (CCP), a Florida-based peace group. "But that's an excuse because we tell the students that the Job Corps and the Peace Corps are possible opportunities for jobs."
"Some of the military recruiters (who visit students on high school campuses) aren't telling the truth about the ways of the military. We don't question the existence of the military; we question the duplicity of military recruiters," Thompson, a retired United Methodist minister, told IPS.
Under President George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" law, signed in 2002, public high schools must give military recruiters access to students, including their names, addresses and telephone numbers.
Parents and students can "opt out" of this requirement by filling out a form, but many are apparently unaware that they have the right to do so.
Numerous attempts by IPS to speak with members of the Manatee County School District were unsuccessful. However, Scott Ferguson, a spokesperson for the Sarasota County School District, argued that, "They (the CCP) are not directly offering job career opportunities."
"The difference is that the military recruiters are offering specific jobs," Ferguson told IPS. "I don't know if there's a direct correlation between the rise in unpopularity (of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq) and the number of requests by these (peace) organisations to visit school campuses. There certainly is no groundswell by these organisations to come to our schools."
Deborah Higgins, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Education, said she was unaware of the controversy.
"This is the first that we've heard of this," Higgens told IPS.
The U.S. military is a vital part of Florida's economy. According to the Florida Defence Alliance (FDA), an organisation whose mission, as stated on its web site, "is to promote (military) base efficiencies and to further military missions in the state, while supporting its military families' quality of life", there are 24 military installations across the state.
This figure does not include the many more National Guard military units in Florida. A statewide economic analysis done by the FDA in 2002 estimated that military-related activities contributed a total of 21.7 billion dollars to Florida's economy.
Michael MacPherson, executive director of Veterans for Peace (VFP), which has 7,200 members in 123 active chapters in all 50 states, said, "We believe that the students should have all possible information given to them."
"We want to provide students with the full range of options, and the students listen to us because of our background of having served in the military," MacPherson told IPS.
Responding to a set of e-mail questions, Cynthia Rivers-Womack, a public affairs officer at the U.S. Army Recruiting centre in Jacksonville, Florida, said: "Before Army recruiters visit a campus, they make a point to comply with school policy regarding visitors on campus, which generally includes checking in with the front office staff as well as the guidance counselor."
"Visits can range from a table set up near the cafeteria, to a formal classroom presentation, to booths at school events such as football and basketball games. When allowable, Army recruiters have access to a rock climbing wall and laser-shot apparatus that can be set up in conjunction with certain visits to provide simulation of certain aspects of Army training and team building."
"Confrontations between such [peace] groups and recruiters on campuses is highly unlikely since they would not be allowed on school property," she said. "If there is a potential for confrontation in any venue between service members and the protesting public, service members are directed to stay clear of the service area and not to engage in confrontation."
She added that any recruiters who verbally harasses a student who expresses interest in joining the Army but later changes his or her mind "are subject to disciplinary action by their commander."
Compromises have been reached in other Florida school districts. In Pinellas County, the political seat of Clearwater, St. Petersburg, and other cities, about two and a half years ago, members of the Tampa Bay chapter of Veterans for Peace told members of the Pinellas County School Board (PCSB) that they wished to go on the campuses. The request was denied, said Dwight Lawton, a VFP volunteer involved in the matter.
"Eventually, we talked to all of the members of the Pinellas County School Board and we found that some of them were interested in what we had to say," he told IPS.
After several meetings, on Aug. 28 this year, the PCSB passed Policy 6.25 "Accessing High School Students Regarding Postsecondary Opportunities." The last sentence in Clause 1 of Policy 6.25 states that: "Other groups who desire to present an alternative to military service are granted equal access."
"In the end it was very anticlimactic. It passed through," said David Koperski, an attorney for the Pinellas County School District.
There are dozens of counter-recruitment groups operating across the country. Just last week, a group of high school students in Vermont organised a protest against military recruiters at their school. Three were arrested, along with 10 other peace activists.
Grissim Walker, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney in Sarasota County, Florida who is doing pro bono legal work for the CCP, said the fight for equal access was not over.
"We are always open to negotiations, but one possibility is litigation if no progress can be made in negotiations," he said.
© 2007 Inter Press Service
30 Comments so far
Show AllIf I had biological children, I would home school them and keep them the hell away from America's so called education system.
Dear American women, keep opening your legs as american men make you feel so worthwhile to make children is all you need for that and when they reach a ripe age of 17 it will be off to kill in a foreign land ... die die die ,kill kill kill war war war.. isn't that what the usa stands for.. that's your democracy called freedom you free people from living in their bodies... what brave you are and when your child comes home in a coffin don't forget that lovely highway overpass that will be named after your litter and the waving flags those brainwashed brave that the white men defend as heros.
The message-ing begins in elementary school as early as the second grade. Active and reserve military gain access to the chidren by being substitute teachers, a position that doesn't require a degree, only approval of the staff at the school.
The children are exposed to the same propaganda we got as young adults, not much better equipped to evaluate the truth of the material. The overall plan is to imprint them with the patriotic rhetoric that we all would like to think is true, then when in the military, the ties to family, friends, neighbors, etc are replaced by ties and loyalty to the unit , the mission, the branch of service, while honing one-sided ideas of enemy, and taking orders. So you end up with soldiers saying what you've all heard them say when back in the states--I just want to get back to my unit. When they come to the point of having enough time and distance to actually consider as a human being what they've done, many quite naturally crack up.
There is a huge difference between carrying out a legal order to defend and protect the Constitution and the people of one's country, and carrying out illegal orders passed down through the ranks by highly placed officers who have shirked their responsibility to question the legality of orders meant to expand or secure commercial empire, military/political hegemony, or personal power of an individual or elite group to the actual detrement of the values they have sworn to uphold. The tsunami of cognitive dissonance sown by this administration ( as by most from WWll ) has just begun to arrive at our shores.
In the final analysis, people enmass can only be made to fight and kill each other by being fed lies. It's not something people do naturally. That's why when agents in elementary schools prepare the minds of 8 year olds the be fed to this mendacity/death machine it is a crime. I'm sorry, but I cannot see it any other way. I know that most of these individuals would swear up and down that they are doing it for the right and patriotic reasons. Those agents need to open their eyes, get informed about issues and find the courage to question, deeply question, what is really going on. We are within a breath of waking up to find out we are living in a totalitarian, plutocratic, corporatist police state. We can do better, peacefully, but we have to have open eyes and hearts and minds.
USA: Second-worst nation in the western world for children to grow up, according to a UN report. The UK is dead last. But the Brits are a lot more sensible than us on a whole lotta things.
Wish I grew up there with a googly cockney accent. At least they write good pop music, too.
It's an even worse place to raise unhealthy kids.
I am jumping off the sinking ship too. This is not a place to raise healthy kids.
There is always the option of leaving this country and starting afresh. Like all empires the Emperor needs you to expand his empire so think about your better options. If US companies are shipping YOUR jobs abroad, which they are, then what is the point of trying to exist in such a lose-lose situation. I'm British and have a very good pension so for me the supression of wages is a good thing financialy but moraly it's not so I'm planning on going back to Europe and France in particular where I can live out my final years in peace where the constant propaganda against all and sundry doesn't pervade your every living moment. The USA is a disaster.
R BOYLEM -- very perceptive and good point, when you mention that "there's never one word about the killing and the dying."
This is the subject in part of Naomi Klein's book "No Logo", where she explains how the corporate advertisements are now selling discombobulated feelings, and the product is no longer part of the BRAND (Logo) association.
How appropriate for the world's most terrible and terrifyingly agency of death to dis-associate itself from its ultimate product, as a means to entrap young impressionable minds all ready consumed with mall mentality and logo suffixation.
Namaste … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … … … … … … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed »
It's always interested me that the military paints such a rosy picture of itself in various recruitment advertisements, but there's never one word about the killing and the dying.
...every one of these military-school stories reminds me of the movie The Matrix, where we see the fields where humans are grown.
Soon, school will be where soldiers are no longer recruited....they are grown!
This is a much more sophisticated draft.
A Volunteer Draft. By influencing the education system through NCLB, the military does affect what teens learn, they affect their value system. What if in a group of 5 friends, one decides to join the military as a result of their campaigning -- swayed by the patriotism it evokes, which in turn is reinforced through the curriculum (history?) and of course, the chance to earn college tuition? If another member of the group is in a similar financial situation, they may consider as well. Because it's been engrained into their minds that the military is a patrioitic thing to join. It's romantic/nationalistic.
But the presence of the military in schools is, I believe, a long-term problem because of any effect it can have on teens' values. If a sizable number become militaristic, and become politically active, then the world is trouble. I don't dismiss the immediate effects of military presence in schools during war/occupation, but I fear the long-term effecs as well.
In short, the issue of the military in schools may have a lasting effect after the Iraq War.
Core American youths used to come from the heartland's breadbasket (farming = food)
Today, the youths come from the fatherland's babybasket (warmongering = profit)
Namaste … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … … … … … … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed »
One comment - guidance counselors frequently tell us that students they judge not to be college material are directed to the military. It happens so much that I suspect it's part of a counselor's training!
A few counter-recruiting resources->
American Friends Service Committee - the 1st place to go:
http://www.afsc.org/youthmil/default.htm
"Mixed Messages" excellent comic (PDF file):
http://www.brethren.org/oepa/programs/peace-witness/counter-recruitment/resources/MixedSignals.pdf
And schools are not the only venue military recruiters want to own. Check out this action at a local Circuit City in Poughkeepsie, NY:
http://dutchesspeace.blogspot.com/2007/11/free-t-shirts-from-circuit-city.html
peach
You can throw in the impressment of illegal aliens in exchange for failing to deport. If the prison and mercenary industries were not so profitable for corporate america there would be an enlistment for pardon program in full swing.
We got lots of cannon fodder available.
"They are saying that we can't go on their campuses because we aren't offering any sort of information on post-secondary opportunities,"
Obviously wrong. They are offering information about a career in the military.
Remember the article last week on the military recruiting vans?
"When allowable, Army recruiters have access to a rock climbing wall and laser-shot apparatus that can be set up in conjunction with certain visits to provide simulation of certain aspects of Army training and team building."
It's O.K. to allow children to shoot simulated 9 MM pitols, but it's not OK to have them read literature that suggests they solve conflicts nonviolently.
Tijuna; I like OPTION FIVE! Good post.
We Are The 801; aka "cannon fodder".
dmia; They are desperate for the ignorant to do their dirty work. Protect your kids!
The US needs fresh meat.
Ask your recruiter "At what level of command is the responsibility to determine the legality of an order?" All swear to "...obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me..."
A military panel ( backed by C. Powell ) recently stated in Foreign Affairs that that responsibility exists at no level of command, because no one below the level of Comm-in-Chief has access to all the information necessary to make that call. Thus we now have illegal wars and mass veteran suicide rates and PTSD. They want our children to do these things. Stop them.
Looks like we're going to have a rash of drug dealers.
"3. Go into hock for 90G's for a college edjeecashun and learn to submit to authority."
And if you read Paul Craig Roberts on counterpunch.org yesterday, you'd find out that even after you do this they give your job to an immigrant brought into the country as cheap labor under the fiction that their aren't any Americans who'd do the job.
So these days, you end up $90G's in debt, and still flipping burgers or driving a cab.
I asked my school district for an "opt out" form and they didn't even know what I was talking about. My son gets phone calls at home every day from recruiters - always after he gets home from school but before my wife and I get home from work.
Parents beware.
It sounds like the ACLU needs to file suit against those districts for excluding anti-recruitment efforts. I'll just bet you a group of anti-war vets could undo any efforts of any bunch of recruiters. Bring in some of the wheel chair bound casualties, some with missing limbs, and parents/spouses of deceased vets with pictures of their dead loved ones in uniform just to reinforce the point.
Seriously messed up!
"Under President George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" law, signed in 2002, public high schools must give military recruiters access to students, including their names, addresses and telephone numbers."
Once again a progressive journalist makes a serious analytitcal error.
"No Child Left Behind" does not belong to George W. Bush.
In fact, this horrible piece of anti-education legislation, after some initial whining, was passed with full cooperation of the Democratic "opposition," in both houses of Congress.
Also, it(usually)has been enthusiastically embraced by the states in an effort to retain "states rights" control over education in the US, and gain some nickels for state politicians and their bosses in the education industry.
The law belongs to all of us.
While there has been some weak-kneed talk in the Congress about amending it, just like the Patriot Act and Military Commissions Act, there is no great movement for outright repeal -- which is necessary before legitimate education legislation can even be discussed.
Ironically, the horrible mess that education in the US has become is barely discussed in presidential debates while great questions about candidates' religious preferences and whether they will buy toys made in China for the holidays grab headlines.
Most horribly, for years -- starting with the Clinton Administration -- the Children's Defense Fund (led by Marion Wright Edelman) proposed a "No Child Left Behind Act" that presented a full bill of rights for poor children. Though Edelman was, and is, a confirmed Clintonite, she could not get Billary to move the CDF legislation -- or even get it a serious hearing.
But when the Bushies took over, they stole the title and with their DLC partners in the Congress and right-wing demogogues of both parties in the states rammed this piece of "law" down the throats of the entire nation.
It is no surprise that the US ranks so abysmally in education on comparitive international tests. Or that more than 28% of US students need remedial work when they enter higher education institutions. (In my own and Bush's state of Texas that number is now over 50%.)
It is up to progressives -- especially progressive journalists -- to not let sound-bites such as "Bush's this or that..." cloud our vision and reporting.
As many people have said on this website in one form another, Bush -- the fascist chickenhawk that he is -- is not the problem, but a symptom of a much greater systemic problem: the corporatization and capitalistic corruption of all that we know as life.
"Under President George W. Bush's "No Child Left Behind" law, signed in 2002, public high schools must give military recruiters access to students, including their names, addresses and telephone numbers."
that's what leave no child behind really means! the US war machine leaves no kids behind! the beast is hungry and your school age children look mighty tasty about now.
the land of the fief and the home of the slave!
And just when I thought Florida was rising to an intelligence level above large, somewhat arboreal anthropoid apes. Hmm...Then again, why would they though? They have one as their hero in the White House.
they need new recruits for the coming occupation of Iran....
What would a person expect. The options are very limited for a middle-class youth. The military is one way out of their parents home. Given the amount of cash that a recruit get today, it would seem like a good amount for a start in life.
With corporate America and the upper class's war on the middle-class there are very few roads for a youth just out of school to travel. There are very few jobs out there that will allow a youth to get ahead and not be a slave tied to his job for his lifetime. The service industry has grown and the manafacturing industry has been shipped to the 3rd world.
What is left is government service.
The options:
!. Flip Burgers
2. Sell Drugs
3. Go into hock for 90G's for a college edjeecashun and learn to submit to authority.
4. Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people and kill them.