The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY)

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Nov. 6, 2005 / Kate Stone Lombardi / New York Times / Yonkers - CAPT. CHE AROSEMENA oversees Army recruiting for 92 public high schools in Westchester and the Bronx. The 2001 No Child Left Behind Act guarantees him and his staff entry to public schools, which would risk losing their federal financing if they barred recruiters. But accomplishing his mission has serious challenges nonetheless.

"It's tough," Captain Arosemena said, adding: "If the school really doesn't want us to have access, they will have unique ways for us not to talk to students. If it doesn't fit into their schedule, suddenly half the year has gone by and you haven't had an assembly."

Yet the captain knows that if he must cede recruiting ground in Westchester's resistant districts -- like Scarsdale and Armonk, with their affluent college-oriented students -- he can make up for it elsewhere.

"We have the most success in schools that have low college placement and low graduation rates," he said. "That's just a fact." He pointed out that students from schools in this category -- typically, in places like Yonkers and Mount Vernon -- rarely go on to take advantage of the Army's college funds anyway.

"College wasn't in their plans," he said. "They just want a good-paying job with upward mobility, and that's what the Army offers them."

No Child Left Behind also requires schools to turn over students' home phone numbers and addresses to the military unless a parent has notified the district not to in writing. And here, too, socioeconomics seems to play a role in determining which parents respond.

John Klemme, principal of Scarsdale High, says that each year 80 to 90 percent of its parents exercise their right to "opt out" -- in other words, they demand to have personal information about their children kept from the military. In contrast, at Mount Vernon High, only 2 percent of parents wrote such letters last year, said Dr. Arnold Jaeger, the assistant superintendent of the Mount Vernon school district.

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November 4, 2005 / People's World / BERKELEY, Calif. — As the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq neared the 2,000 mark, nearly 500 university and high school students, military resisters, veterans and peace activists gathered on the UC Berkeley campus Oct. 22-23 for “On the Frontlines: Options for Youth in Times of War.” While most participants were from California, some came from as far away as New York state.

The conference, co-sponsored by Military Out of Our Schools-Bay Area (MOOS-Bay) and the Campus Antiwar Network, brought together program participants from over two dozen antiwar, educational, cultural and political organizations. Nearly 50 workshops ranged from detailed how-to’s on topics like getting recruiters off high school and college campuses to lessons from earlier struggles like the anti-Vietnam War movement and exploration of the role of theater and art.

A theme throughout the gathering was the urgent need to win economic and educational opportunities for youth, especially working-class youth of color, in the face of economic crisis, lack of jobs and educational opportunities. “Though solving the problems of youth, finding the alternatives to the military, is not on the agenda of this conference, it is the underlying context,” said Kevin Ramirez of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors.

Another theme was the importance of reaching young people before they take the step of signing a contract.