The Children's Crusade

[Guest guest]

http://www.alternet.org/story/22192/

 

The Children's Crusade

 

By Jennifer Wedekind, In These Times. Posted June 10, 2005.

 

Military programs are moving into middle schools to fish for future

soldiers, training students as young as 11 to march in formation and

carry weapons.

 

Tarsha Moore stands as tall as her 4-foot 8-inch frame will allow.

Staring straight ahead, she yells out an order to a squad of peers

lined up in three perfect columns next to her. Having been in the

military program for six years, Tarsha has earned the rank of captain

and is in charge of the 28 boys and girls in her squad. This is

Lavizzo Elementary School. Tarsha is 14.

 

The Middle School Cadet Corps (MSCC) program at the K-8 school is part

of a growing trend to militarize middle schools. Students at Lavizzo

are among the more than 850 Chicago students who have enlisted in one

of the city's 26 MSCC programs. At Madero Middle School, the MSCC has

evolved into a full-time military academy for kids 11 to 14 years old.

 

Chicago public schools are home to the largest Junior Reserve

Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) program, which oversees the MSCC, in

the country. When moving up to high school, Chicago's graduating

eighth-graders can choose from 45 JROTC programs, including three

full-time Army military academies, five " school-within-a-school " Army

JROTC academies and one JROTC Naval academy.

 

Proponents of the programs tout leadership training and character

development. But critics quote former Defense Secretary Gen. William

Cohen, who described JROTC as " one of the best recruiting services

that we could have. " Rick Mills, the director of Military Schools and

JROTC for the Chicago Public School system, dismisses these concerns.

" These kinds of programs would not be in schools if there weren't kids

who wanted it, parents who supported it and administrators who

facilitated it, " he says.

 

The elementary school cadet corps is a voluntary after-school program

that meets two or three times a week. Programs differ from school to

school, but MSCC students generally learn first-aid, civics,

" citizenship " and character development. They also learn military

history and take field trips to local military bases. Once a week,

students wear their uniforms to school for inspections. Tarsha

describes buffing her uniform shoes in preparation for inspection

days. " Everything has to be perfect, " she says. During drill practices

they learn how to stand, turn and salute in synchronization. When they

disobey an order, they do pushups. " Only 10, " says one administrator.

 

Joanne Young, a sixth-grade teacher at Goethe School in Chicago,

recently wrote a letter to the local school council protesting the

implementation of the cadet corps in her school. " I was told that it

is not a military program, yet every aspect of it is military, " she

wrote. " This program is training our students, as young as 11-years

old, to march in formation and carry guns. ... Students could be

suspended for bringing something that appears to be a weapon to our

school, yet we are handing them fake guns for this program. " Young,

like many other teachers, feels that leadership and discipline could

easily be taught in other types of after-school programs.

 

Herman Barnett, director of Lavizzo's award-winning MSCC program, asks

the public to give the students the benefit of the doubt. " They don't

look at it as getting ready for the army, " he says. " They're just

doing it for entertainment and fun. "

 

In 2002 the Bush administration passed the No Child Left Behind Act

with a small, unpublicized provision: Section 9528, " Armed Forces

Recruiter Access to Students and Student Recruiting Information, "

requires high schools to give all student contact information to the

military. Most students aren't aware they can opt out by filling out a

form.

 

Ranjit Bhagwat, an organizer for Chicago's Southwest Youth

Collaborative, has worked with students at Kelly High School in

Chicago to inform their classmates about the provision and how to opt

out. The Kelly group, founded in January, has already convinced more

than 10 percent of the school's population to sign the opt-out

petition. Bhagwat says the group targeted military recruitment because

the students felt the military's presence in their school was an issue

that needed to be addressed. " They had a problem with the fact that

there were a lot of lies the military told, " he says.

 

The MSCC and JROTC programs are funded by the Defense Department,

which has a $3 billion annual recruitment budget. Recruitment officers

roam high schools promoting the image of a secure military career and

enticing students with promises of money for college.

 

The " lies " mentioned by Bhagwat include the reality that, on average,

two-thirds of recruits never receive college funding and only 15

percent graduate with a four-year degree. As for a secure career, the

unemployment rate for veterans is three times higher than non-veterans.

 

Opponents of the JROTC program also cite ethnic profiling, arguing

that the military targets students from minority and low-income areas.

The Chicago Public School system is 49.8 percent African American and

38 percent Latino. Students coming from low-income families make up

85.2 percent of Chicago's student population. JROTC director Mills is

correct when he says the racial and socioeconomic status of those in

Chicago's JROTC program reflects the school system as a whole, but

only five schools in all of the more affluent Chicago suburbs have

JROTC programs.

 

Military recruiters are known for their flashy tactics: television

ads, omnipresent brochures, recruiting ships, trucks and vans, and

even a free Army video game kids can download off the Internet. Yet,

the Army hasn't met its recruitment goals in three months. The Marines

haven't met their quotas since January. Suspicious recruitment tactics

are in the headlines and Army recruiters took off May 20 to retrain in

the ethics and laws of recruitment.

 

Meanwhile, Mills insists the military does not look to JROTC groups

for students to boost its numbers. " I get absolutely no pressure from

any of the services, " he says. " None. "

 

Only 18 percent of graduating JROTC seniors are considering joining

the service, says Mills. He does not have statistics on how many of

the 71 percent that go on to post-secondary school stay with the ROTC

program. Lavizzo's Barnett also says that not all of his middle school

students move on to JROTC programs in high school. Tarsha, however,

has already signed up. While she wants to be a lawyer and is not

planning on joining the armed forces when she graduates, the

14-year-old says, " If I were to join the military, I would be ready

for it. "