no child unrecruited

**mimi37** · 09-08-2004, 08:25 AM

http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/...n_no-child.htm
No Child Unrecruited -- Should the military be given the names of every high school student in
America?
David Goodman
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."
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 schools on 19,228 occasions. 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."

**Advertisement** · 09-08-2004 08:25 AM

**CAMSmama** · 09-08-2004, 08:51 AM

That's just unbelievable!

I'm so glad I home school.

**JKATHERINE** · 09-08-2004, 08:55 AM

So sad that the current administration has screwed things up not only globally, but right here on our own home turf...in our schools and with our children.

**schsa** · 09-08-2004, 09:01 AM

And next they want to have your children go directly into the military from high school. Or if you child isn't doing well in school, why not take them directly into the military? Why should you and your children have a choice? After all, you support your government. So why don't we just go ahead and give them full control?

Big Brother is coming.

**JKATHERINE** · 09-08-2004, 09:05 AM

Originally Posted by schsa

Big Brother is coming.

I know. Sounds a whole lot like 1984...

**sahmsfreeb** · 09-08-2004, 09:34 AM

waiting for flames...that tends to happen if you do not go with the crowd on things...

but i have an opposite feeling towards this...
so many things are taught to our children in school. things that dont need to be there. but sadly our children grow up faster than we know.
sex ed, not abstinence.
political correctness, not respect.
soda in vending machines yet obesity is at an all time high...
an 18 year old is an adult.
perhaps an 18 year old who has absolutly no clue as what to do with their life could benifit from being contacted by a recruiter. i wish i was...

i was a lost young adult. if perhaps i was recruited my earlier years wouldnt have been so "colorful" and i would have a skill now. lcukily i met my dh and i changed my life around for the better. but most arent as lucky as i was..

being in our nations military is not something to be ashamed or frightened of. i would rather my 18 year old be recruited by the military. sports coaches from colleges recruit with no trouble. as much as i like sports you cannot make a career out of a sport. and if you do you have beaten the odds.

do i want my child joining the military? no... id rather them go to harvard. or yale...

if they joined would i be upset? no. id be so proud.
you see the military is made up of people who joined because of others who couldn't or wouldn't join.
No Child Left Behind Act, had bipartisan approval in congress
with John Kerry's vote being for NCLB.
No Child Left Behind (NCLB), reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

i find it hard to believe that if a school says no to releasing the names they will be denined federal monies... find me a school that was denied moneies because of this and i would find it a bit more credible.

**suziebee20** · 09-08-2004, 03:27 PM

I'll tell ya... once they start calling, they don't stop! I went through their calls for months, told them everytime I wasn't interested, they kept calling so I started getting angry and told them FAT CHANCE, NO WAY... a few weeks later they call again. They kept asking me why and trying to convince me- one branch told me that if I was an accountant that it would be just like being an accountant at a bank, I could live where I want and do what I want and wouldn't ever have to go to war. I know better than that. They also told me if I came down there they would stop calling so I went, they gave me all their frilly keyrings, bumper stickers, pencils, pins, brocures... then called me days later after I said to their faces I'm NOT interested.

I think they should only be allowed to call once- maybe once per branch, and that is it. I learned from my parents, and many teachers growing up that NO means just that, "NO"! I wish they would understand that.

**LuvBigRip** · 09-08-2004, 03:29 PM

Show me the provision in the no child left behind act.

**katgirl3** · 09-08-2004, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by LuvBigRip

Show me the provision in the no child left behind act.

http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/...ection9528.htm

Here's the provision. I don't see anywhere that it says if schools do not comply, they lose funding. It also says this:

CONSENT.—A secondary school student or the parent of the student may request that the student’s name, address, and telephone listing described in paragraph (1) not be released without prior written parental consent, and the local educational agency or private school shall notify parents of the option to make a request and shall comply with any request.

Simple. Don't give parental consent.

In the article the OP posted, it says:

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.

Looks to me it's the schools that have the problem keeping privacy, not the military.

**JKATHERINE** · 09-08-2004, 04:34 PM

Originally Posted by sahmsfreeb

waiting for flames...that tends to happen if you do not go with the crowd on things...

but i have an opposite feeling towards this...
so many things are taught to our children in school. things that dont need to be there. but sadly our children grow up faster than we know.
sex ed, not abstinence.
political correctness, not respect.
soda in vending machines yet obesity is at an all time high...
an 18 year old is an adult.
perhaps an 18 year old who has absolutly no clue as what to do with their life could benifit from being contacted by a recruiter. i wish i was...

i was a lost young adult. if perhaps i was recruited my earlier years wouldnt have been so "colorful" and i would have a skill now. lcukily i met my dh and i changed my life around for the better. but most arent as lucky as i was..

being in our nations military is not something to be ashamed or frightened of. i would rather my 18 year old be recruited by the military. sports coaches from colleges recruit with no trouble. as much as i like sports you cannot make a career out of a sport. and if you do you have beaten the odds.

do i want my child joining the military? no... id rather them go to harvard. or yale...

if they joined would i be upset? no. id be so proud.
you see the military is made up of people who joined because of others who couldn't or wouldn't join.
No Child Left Behind Act, had bipartisan approval in congress
with John Kerry's vote being for NCLB.
No Child Left Behind (NCLB), reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

i find it hard to believe that if a school says no to releasing the names they will be denined federal monies... find me a school that was denied moneies because of this and i would find it a bit more credible.

I understand what you're saying about 'direction' and all, and i agree. Some children can benefit from the direction and discipline the military can offer. HOWEVER, it is WRONG to have to hand over the names and addresses and phone numbers of schools of children to recruiters. I dont' think there's anything wrong with having recruiters at the school to talk to kids or at career/job fairs, but giving out personal information is taking it way too far and, like others have posted, the recruiters are RELENTLESS! They have major quotas to meet--I know, my DH almost became one. Recruiters in the military have one of the highest divorce rates of all the jobs available in the military due to the loooong hours and HIGH stress of the job. They are pushed so hard to get new recruits that it follows over onto the child/potential recruit and almost becomes harassment...

**buglebe** · 09-08-2004, 05:32 PM

Some children with no direction are just very immature for their age. To go into the military and possibly winding up with a dishonerable discharge would be a terrible thing to have to live with. Unless there are plans to reinstate the draft , why would they be interested in having this list?

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