Should We End Military Recruiting in High Schools as a Matter of Child Protection and Public Health?

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Amy Hagopian, PhD, Kathy Barker, PhD -

Note. Photo by K. Barker. FIGURE 1—Students at Garfield High School in Seattle, WA, drop to the floor for pushups under the command of a military recruiter at the school in 2009.SINCE ITS ADOPTION IN 1989, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has been ratified more quickly and by more governments than any other human rights instrument.1 There are only two United Nations (UN) members who have yet to ratify the convention: Somalia and the United States. Opponents of ratification object to giving away US sovereignty to the UN (a general objection applying to most treaties), but they also claim the treaty undermines parental rights.2

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Forced Military Testing in America's Schools

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Pat Elder -

ASVAB Testing in our schoolsThe invasion of student privacy associated with military testing in U.S. high schools has been well documented by mainstream media sources, like USA Today and NPR Radio. The practice of mandatory testing, however, continues largely unnoticed.

The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB is the military's entrance exam that is given to fresh recruits to determine their aptitude for various military occupations. The test is also used as a recruiting tool in 12,000 high schools across the country. The 3 hour test is used by military recruiting services to gain sensitive, personal information on more than 660,000 high school students across the country every year, the vast majority of whom are under the age of 18. Students typically are given the test at school without parental knowledge or consent. The school-based ASVAB Career Exploration Program is among the military's most effective recruiting tools.

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NNOMY In Solidarity with Occupy Movement

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December 18, 2011

NNOMY GRoup at 2009 ConferenceNNOMY is a national network that serves to unite national, regional and local organizations that oppose the growing intrusion of the military in young people's lives. We seek to promote the importance of counter-recruitment organizing. NNOMY is not intended to function as an independent national organization, but rather as a coalition that strengthens the work of participating groups.

We stand in absolute solidarity with our sisters and brothers in the Occupy/(Un)occupy movement. We embrace the notion that we are the 99% and we refuse to tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. We recognize that it is the interests of the 1% that dominate military policy and the spread of militarism in our society. We feel, therefore, that confronting militarism and countering military recruitment of youth deserve a high priority in the movements sweeping the country that are aimed at reducing the power and influence of the 1%.

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Countering the Militarisation of Youth

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18 Nov 2011 — warresisters

International Study Conference Germany 2012

Darmstadt, 8-10 June 2012

Darmstadt"In Europe, and to some degree on a global level, there are presently two trends which both contribute to an increased militarisation of youth. The first is the end (or, more exactly, the suspension) of conscription in most European countries. The second is an increasing “normalisation of war” stemming from the 'war on terror and the use of military force as a means of politics. Both trends reinforce each other in strengthening the militarisation of youth from an early age- something we are committed to working against.”

The project, which includes an international meeting in Germany, and a post-conference publication, hopes to bringing together activists from all over the world.

The aim is to foster an ongoing regional and multi-regional network of cooperating anti-militarist organisations. The overarching objective of the conference is strengthening the work against the militarisation of youth in Europe (and beyond) by providing opportunities for people to exchange skills and experience of working in this field and to create/strengthen networks and relationships across the region.

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The latest news from Sustainable Options for Youth in Austin

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Thursday, December 8, 2011 - The Peace Table at Bowie High School

Hi, all,

Sustainable Options for Youth

On Thursday, Tami, George and I tabled at Bowie HS and had perhaps our best day there ever. Bowie is either the first or second largest school in our district. George is a member of Veterans for Peace visiting Austin from Canada, and it was great to have him joining us. Tami was getting over a bug, and because we were busy, it was especially good to have three of us at the table.

Photos are posted at: http://peaceoptions.blogspot.com/

Here are George’s observations about our day, and then mine. From George: Following is a reflection on our time at Bowie High School on Dec 8. We were greeted at the school office and asked to check in and if we had checked with the school scheduler before hand. Bowie is where, on a previous occasion, Sustainable Options for Youth, then called Non-Military Options for Youth ,was told to leave the premises until the Principal had a chance to review and read the literature on our table. This in spite of the fact that the Austin Independent School Board had cleared our group to visit Austin high schools years ago. This was our third visit there since being asked to leave. My reflection is that it was a very postive experience for me, interacting with hundreds of high schoolers at the two tables we had set up in front of the school cafeteria for the two lunch periods. My guess is that no fewer than 300 students stopped at the table to play the Peace wheel game, make folders with stencils or pick up peace literature and brochures on the table. I personally got into about a dozen more in depth conversations with individual students.

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A National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy

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December 6, 2011

David Swanson -

National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy Please take some time to look through the new website of the new National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy: www.studentprivacy.org

I've just joined the board because I believe a great deal of good can be done.

The National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy is a one-trick pony and that trick is the ASVAB Campaign. In short, we call for the universal selection of Option 8 for students taking the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB in high schools across the country, thereby prohibiting the automatic release of test data to military recruiting services.

Sounds pretty obscure and technical, I suppose.  But this is a relatively easy and proven model of denying the U.S. military what it needs in order to kill our young people by using them to kill others.  Namely, it denies the military the illegal right to violate the privacy of our young people in furthering its recruitment efforts.

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Get connected to youth counter recruitment activists all over the country. Check out DMZ: A Guide to Taking Your School Back from the Military an organizing guide for high school students interested in keeping the military out of our schools. We offer counter recruitment workshops and trainings for students, activists, and educators on a regular basis. Email wrl@warresisters.org for more information. From Ya-Ya Network & War Resisters League

KPFA Radio

Audio report
Making Contact - The New Face of Military Recruiting

 

Stretched to supply the manpower to fight two wars, the US military has stepped up efforts to recruit teenagers and young adults.  Videogames, social networks, and the schools themselves are all fertile soil for Pentagon recruiters.  On this edition, guest host Anna Sussman hosts a roundtable discussion about the new face of military recruiting, and counter-recruiting efforts taking place. 

Featuring:

Sandra Schwartz, American Friends Service Committee San Francisco Peace Education Coordinator; David Ledesma, One Voice Executive Director; Sokthy Mean, Bay-Peace counter recruiter.


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ASVAB Tour

ASVAB TOUR

We Are Not Your Soldiers at NYC High School

Uploaded by on Nov 15, 2011

On November 14th, Matthis Chiroux and Elaine Brower spoke to about 180 high school students about opposing military recruiters and not joining the military.

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