En cooperación con la campaña Desinversión de la máquina de guerra de Codepink, The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth contribuye con esta guía para desmilitarizar nuestras escuelas del alcance de una disposición de la Ley de éxito de todos los niños que permite el acceso sin restricciones a reclutadores militares en nuestras escuelas . Esta guía instruye a los activistas sobre cómo presionar a los distritos escolares para que sigan las pautas de igualdad de acceso y para organizar comunidades, padres, maestros y estudiantes para limitar el acceso de los reclutadores a sus escuelas.

Gran parte del contenido de esta Guía de campaña de desinversión se toma prestada con el permiso de la Red Nacional de Oposición a la Militarización de la Juventud (NNOMY), la Coalición Nacional para Proteger la Privacidad de los Estudiantes, Dejar de Reclutar Niños y Guardar la Educación Civil. Les estamos extremadamente agradecidos por contribuir con su visión y experiencia a este movimiento. Para obtener más información sobre el trabajo de NNOMY, visite http://nnomy.org/index.php/en/. Para proteger el trabajo de la privacidad del estudiante, visite http://www.studentprivacy.org/. Para obtener más información sobre Stop Recruiting Kids, visite: http://srkcampaign.org/. Para obtener más información sobre el trabajo de Save Civilian Education, visite http://savecivilianeducation.org/.

Photo-journalist Nina Berman had the urge to find the wounded returned vets she was reading about in the newspaper, but not seeing pictures of. She discovered that her mental picture of a wounded soldier was one of a soldier being helped off the field by other soldiers, or being accompanied and tended to by a dr. or nurse -- leading to the feeling that the soldier was going to be all right, everything was OK.

What she found instead were acutely lonely men & women fighting the VA for benefits. She interviewed them and recorded the interviews as well as photographing them, and made a 10-minute dvd out of this material, featuring 6 of the 20 vets in the book.

Slide Show on Purple Hearts Project / NY Times

District of Columbia military alternatives such as: money for college, job training/skills, direction in life, discipline, to be part of a team, travel, to serve their country, to get out of trouble with the law, physical training, even citizenship.

In Cooperation with Codepink's Divest from the War Machine campaign, The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth contributes this guide for demilitarizing our schools from the over-reach of a provision of the Every Child Succeeds Act that permits unrestricted access to military recruiters in our schools. This guide instructs activists how to lobby school districts to follow equal access guidelines and to organize communities, parents, teachers, and students to limit recruiter access to their schools.

Much of the contents of this Divestment Campaign Guide are borrowed with permission from the National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY), National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy, Stop Recruiting Kids, and Save Civilian Civilian Education. We are extremely grateful to them for contributing their insight and experience to this movement. To learn more about NNOMY’s work, visit http://nnomy.org/index.php/en/. To Protect Student Privacy’s work, visit http://www.studentprivacy.org/. To learn more about Stop Recruiting Kids, visit: http://srkcampaign.org/. To learn more about Save Civilian Education’s work, visit http://savecivilianeducation.org/.

You can visit Codepink's Divest from the War Machine website at https://www.divestfromwarmachine.org/ 

Purpose: In accordance with the authority in DoD Directive 5124.02 and Chapter 102 of Title 10, United States Code (U.S.C.), this issuance establishes policy, assigns responsibilities, and provides procedures for the organization and administration of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) Program.

Addresses policy and procedures for administering the JROTC program.

Before or After Joining the U.S. Military - compiled by the heads-up collective - 1st Edition - Zine -  (Archived)

The zine's purpose is to both counter-recruit and support soldiers who resist. Many student anti-war groups have instinctively gravitated toward these tactics, but I thought it might be helpful to summarize them here:

Counter-Recruitment: Counter-recruitment means not only talking people out of the joining the military but also making life hard for military recruiters themselves. Actions have included demonstrations, student walkouts, handing out information in front of recruiting centers, opt-out parties (for high school students to keep the military from getting their personal information), and giving classroom presentations.

Resources on military conscription and "Selective Service" in the USA
from the National Resistance Committee

In this publication, QUNO questions the presence and influence of the military in primary and secondary education from a peace and human rights perspective. Concerned at the military’s involvement in schools and the militarization of education, QUNO draws attention to relevant international human rights standards that promote education for peace./ Quaker United Nations Office

Author: Emily Graham

The human family consists for the most part of wonderfully ordinary people, who work hard to care for themselves and their children. However, there are a few people who aspire to positions of power, and then work to use their authority to manipulate and control all the others.

Educators' tour is about how youth are militarized and how the educational system plays a primary role in shaping the view of citizens about militarism in society.

Published 2008

Gary Evans, MD

19 pages

All we want to do is make students aware that there are other ways to find college money and serve your country without joining the military. But they're not getting the other side.  Sally Ferrell, a counter military recruiter from Wilkes County, North Carolina. We're not going to allow her to do that anymore. We allow recruiters into the schools to recruit for post-high school opportunities. But she was not offering that.

Stephen Laws, Superintendent of Wilkes County High Schools, North Carolina

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by UIC Law Open Access Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in UIC Law Review by an authorized administrator of UIC Law Open Access Repository. For more information, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

• Phillip Ruben Nava, Equal Access Struggle: Counter-Military Recruitment on High School Campuses, 44 J. Marshall L. Rev. 459 (2011)

https://repository.law.uic.edu/lawreview/vol44/iss2/4

Purpose:
To compare the video and computer game play patterns of young adolescent boys and

Financial aid resources compiled by Project YANO. Emphasis is on California financial aid, but some national sources are also listed.

Leafleting is a time-honored and inexpensive way to spread political, religious and commercial messages. In its traditional form, in which leaflets, fliers or pamphlets are handed to people face-to-face on the street, leafleting is a method of speech protected by the First Amendment.

Leafleting is a time-honored and inexpensive way to spread political, religious and commercial messages. In its traditional form, in which leaflets, fliers or pamphlets are handed to people face-to-face on the street, leafleting is a method of speech protected by the First Amendment.

Florida military alternatives such as: money for college, job training/skills, direction in life, discipline, to be part of a team, travel, to serve their country, to get out of trouble with the law, physical training, even citizenship.

An excellent instructive 45-minute film for high school students and their teachers about the history of the Viet Nam War, composed of photographs from that war, by filmmaker Jill Godmilow.

It’s free to stream or download the film by clicking on the link below:.

For High School Students - Notes and Images From the Vietnam War from Jill Godmilow on Vimeo.

"Here's a film for high school students and their teachers about the history of the Viet Nam War, composed of just photographs from that war, narration and, to help us through a damned disheartening story, lots of the Bach Suite for Solo Cello #1 in G. The film is 45 minutes long––perfect for classroom use and repeated screenings by students on their own. It's my response to the flawed Ken Burn/Lynn Novick 18-hour PBS series, The Vietnam War... too long for the classroom and failing in many ways as a useful account of the tragic Viet Nam war. It’s free to stream or download the film from this website, so teachers, help yourselves. I’ve also provided a curriculum, produced by the Zinn Education Project’s Rethinking Schools for teaching this film, and some additional useful writings for understanding the Viet Nam War. I recommend that teachers warn their students that the film is highly critical of the Viet Nam War. Teachers should also warn students in advance that this material can be upsetting. But I believe young adults can, and must, grapple with this grim history and the presence of this war, in order to avoid repeating it."  - Jill Godmilow

Join Frieda as she learns how to make a difference in the world! This is the story about a young girl named Frieda who embarks on a wonderful adventure to bring about positive change in the world. One day, Ana from the United Nations visits Frieda’s school to teach her class about the Sustainable Development Goals—the world’s plan to reduce poverty and protect the planet by 2030. Frieda develops a global perspective and is encouraged to take action against the biggest issues of our day: from combating climate change and protecting endangered species to ending poverty and fighting inequality. But most important, Frieda learns that “everyone must work together to make the world much better for all”. With colourful illustrations, engaging text, and tips on how to change the world, children will discover what they can do to make a difference— in their lives and the lives around them.

• Author: UN, DGC
• Publication date: August 2019
• Page count: 52
• Language(s) in this book: English
• Sales number: 19.I.11

Available in Paperback

Languages:

Español

Adolescents spend a significant part of their leisure time watching TV programs and movies that portray violence. It is unknown, however, how the extent of violent media use and the severity of aggression displayed affect adolescents brain function. We investigated skin conductance responses, brain activation and functional brain connectivity to media violence in healthy adolescents. In an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment, subjects repeatedly viewed normed videos that displayed different degrees of aggressive behavior. We found a downward linear adaptation in skin conductance responses with increasing aggression and desensitization towards more aggressive videos. Our results further revealed adaptation in a fronto-parietal network including the left lateral orbitofrontal cortex (lOFC), right precuneus and bilateral inferior parietal lobules, again showing downward linear adaptations and desensitization towards more aggressive videos. Granger causality mapping analyses revealed attenuation in the left lOFC, indicating that activation during viewing aggressive media is driven by input from parietal regions that decreased over time, for more aggressive videos. We conclude that aggressive media activates an emotion –attention network that has the capability to blunt emotional responses through reduced attention with repeated viewing of aggressive media contents, which may restrict the linking of the consequences of aggression with an emotional response, and therefore potentially promotes aggressive attitudes and behavior.

The Full Spectrum Counter-Recruitment PDF examines efforts to demilitarize public schools and end the flow of new warriors by modernizing counter recruitment efforts to oppose military tactics to use digital and online gaming platforms to reach kids. This document was prepared for a Veterans For Peace Online Convention workshop and is publically available as a resource.

Youth from Summer of Resistance hold funeral at the downtown Army Recruiting Station in Washingon, DC, complete with coffins and trumpet, for the 2,500+ U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq.

The Government Accounting Office has documented more than 6,000 cases of recruiter misconduct.

Georgia military alternatives such as: money for college, job training/skills, direction in life, discipline, to be part of a team, travel, to serve their country, to get out of trouble with the law, physical training, even citizenship.

Synopsis: The World Can't Wait and We Are Not Your Soldiers Special features a vet's visit to a NY community college peace studies class.  It's wonderful. Listen!

Hosted by: The World Can't Wait

In an effort to further understanding, the peace group, The World Can't has been visiting schools throughout our area with veterans to talk about the experience of being in the military and its aftermath. Recently the World Can’t Wait visited a Human Rights Study class at Nassau Community College out on Long Island.

They were kind enough to share the hour with WBAI Radio. Miles Megaciph of We Are Not Your Soldiers spoke often poignantly of his time in the Marines, including when he was stationed in Guantanamo and Okinawa. The students raise interesting questions and make some heartfelt comments. With Stephanie Rugoff.

Project Great Futures/CAMS Booklet on Alternative Careers for High School students in the Los Angeles area, nationally, and the world.

Topics include:

1. GREEN JOBS, CAREERS, FUTURES
2. LEARN TO EARN
3. GET PAID TO LEARN
4. OUTDOORS & ENVIRONMENT
5. SEE THE WORLD
6. BE A HERO
7. EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITIES
8. CREATIVE ARTS
9. CHANGE YOUR LIFE
10. YOUTH LEADERSHIP
11. HIGHER EDUCATION
12. ADDRESS LISTING

Source: Project Great Futures

The purpose of this lesson is to help students understand the purpose of propaganda and how governments successfully used propaganda during World War I. This lesson will also ask students to compare how the belligerent nations (and the United States in particular) depicted their enemies and mobilized their respective populations to fight the war.

Leaders from the Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities present career choices in peacemaking and social change to high school and college students gathered at UC San Diego. (#14214)

The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY), in collaboration with Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities - Project YANO,, has developed a new resource called, Guide to Removing Marksmanship Training from High Schools. This guide documents the process and strategies learned by the Education Not Arms Coalition comprised of students, teachers, and parents that successfully lobbied the San Diego California City school board for the removal of Shooting Ranges from eleven high schools in 2009 and adopting a zero-tolerance policy for marksmanship training in their school district. 

NNOMY recommends this proven strategy for organizing a campaign for the removal of marksmanship training on a school district level thus accomplishing an important aspect of school demilitarization.

Here are some of the accomplishments of the Education Not Arms Coalition strategy:

• School Board Votes to End Weapons Training in their school district.
  
• Marine Corps JROTC at one San Diego school fell so low that the unit was eventually forced to leave.
• Shooting ranges from eleven high schools in the San Diego school  district were closed in 2009

Produced by UNICEF and the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, this publication is an essential guide to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child related to children in armed conflict. It describes the context surrounding its adoption, efforts supporting its objectives, key provisions and the legislative processes involved for signature and ratification or accession.The Guide aims to support child rights advocates - including government officials, child protection agencies, humanitarian workers and those involved in national coalitions - in their work to generate momentum and support for ratification and implementation of the Optional Protocol - Also available in French or Spanish

I write as a participant-observer in the counter-recruitment movement, in my role as coordinator of peace witness for On Earth Peace, a Church of the Brethren peace education and action agency. Since early 2005, On Earth Peace has specifically committed itself to capacity-building for the counter-recruitment movement.  Capacity-building means that we invite and support organizers to get involved, and that we create opportunities for organizers to grow and reflect on their work so they can do it more effectively. We support and nurture organizers through one-on-one support calls, providing general orientation to the movement and strategy consultation, and most importantly, through regular national networking calls which incorporate theological reflection, reflection on lessons learned, and training in strategy perspectives.

Hawaii military alternatives such as: money for college, job training/skills, direction in life, discipline, to be part of a team, travel, to serve their country, to get out of trouble with the law, physical training, even citizenship.

PDF Format, 9 pages, includes links to webinars. August 2015 - Webinar in 3 Parts (Aug. 26, 28 31): Establishing Policies to Restrict Military Recruiting in K-12 Schools

In December, 2010, Northwest Suburban Peace & Education Project presented a proposal to the school board of Township District 214 to offer the students and parents in the district a method by which they can opt out of the JAMRS database. In a letter dated March 21, 2011, they have decided to offer opt out forms in the registration materials.

Township District 214 includes six high schools (about 12,000 students) from the towns of Arlington Heights, Mt. Prospect, Elk Grove Village, Wheeling, Buffalo Grove and Rolling Meadows. These are suburbs northwest of Chicago.

Update: Tuesday, January 17, 2012:
High School District Releases Opt-out Statistics for the JAMRS

Issues covered in this brochure:

College s and Universitie s Want YOU!
HOW CAN I AFFORD COLLEGE?
WILL “REAL LIFE” GET IN THE WAY? (I have a family, a job, etc.)
COMMUNITY COLLEGE (A very smart place to begin your higher education)
Public Universities in California
I Don’ t Have A U.S. Green Card (How can I go to college without paying a fortune?)

Source: Project Great Futures

Ender’s Game is a sci-fi novel about a precocious ten-year-old training to lead Earth’s fleet of spaceships against a looming alien threat. The reveal at the end of the book is that Ender hasn’t been training in simulations, but has actually been commanding real battles, unknowingly saving Earth from an alien invasion.

As it turns out, Ender’s Game has been extremely influential in the way the military views videogames as a training tool for soldiers. According to Corey Mead: “The whole idea of what Ender’s Game is—young people fighting a war—is what influenced [the military]. And they totally did it.”

In his new book War Play: Video Games and the Future of Armed Conflict, Mead explores the U.S. military’s use of videogames as a tool for recruitment, training, and treatment. This recent interest in videogames reflects a shift in what it wants from its soldiers. “For the first time in its history‚” Mead writes, “the military wants to teach even junior personnel not just what to think but how to think.” This change has taken place primarily because of the U.S.’s involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, where a soldier isn’t just fighting but is tasked with a number of different jobs, requiring different skills, tactics, and cultural understanding.

Teachers have stated that they are sometimes in an uncomfortable position when students ask them what they think.  As representatives of the State, teachers must respond thoughtfully and carefully.  Since the issue of military recruiting is laden with emotional overtones and raises the issue of patriotism, it can be a difficult subject to discuss objectively and rationally.  How do we handle the difficult questions?

As attitudes toward war grow dangerously worshipful in the US, quitting our endless wars becomes all the more difficult.
A sweeping history of the passionate men and women in uniform who have bravely and courageously exercised the power of dissent
Before the U.S. Constitution had even been signed, soldiers and new veterans protested. Dissent, the hallowed expression of disagreement and refusal to comply with the government's wishes, has a long history in the United States. Soldier dissenters, outraged by the country's wars or egregious violations in conduct, speak out and change U.S. politics, social welfare systems, and histories.

Audio book available on Audible

Idaho military alternatives such as: money for college, job training/skills, direction in life, discipline, to be part of a team, travel, to serve their country, to get out of trouble with the law, physical training, even citizenship.

Our federal budget is more than numbers on a page. Congresswoman Barbara Lee has called it a “moral document,” a representation of our nation's values. The If I Had a Trillion Dollars youth video contest asks young people from across the country, to tell us about what they value. It asks them to tell us what they would do with $1 trillion – for themselves, their families and for their communities.

This Curriculum Guide is meant to provide a context for young people creating videos for the contest. Through group activities, journaling and facilitated discussion, youth will gain an understanding of how our federal budget works, what our nations priorities are in terms of budgeting and they will begin to explore their own personal budget priorities.

Illinois military alternatives such as: money for college, job training/skills, direction in life, discipline, to be part of a team, travel, to serve their country, to get out of trouble with the law, physical training, even citizenship.

An Alternative Report to the U.S. Government Initial Report to CRC OPAC scheduled for review by the Committee on the Rights of the Child during its 48th Session in May - June 2008. Submitted by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) – U.S. Section - Nov. 15, 2007

In the Shadow of No Towers - Art Spiegelman - Pantheon Graphic Library -Graphic Novel - 2004 
or the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Maus, the terrorist attacks of September 11th were both highly personal and intensely political. In the Shadow of No Towers is a masterful and moving account of the events and aftermath of that tragic day. Spiegelman and his family bore witness to the attacks in their lower Manhattan neighborhood: his teenage daughter had started school directly below the towers days earlier, and they had lived in the area for years. But the horrors they survived that morning were only the beginning for Spiegelman, as his anguish was quickly displaced by fury at the U.S. government, which shamelessly co-opted the events for its own preconceived agenda.

Indiana military alternatives such as: money for college, job training/skills, direction in life, discipline, to be part of a team, travel, to serve their country, to get out of trouble with the law, physical training, even citizenship.

By Ashley Bryan
Illustrated by Ashley Bryan

From celebrated author and illustrator Ashley Bryan comes a deeply moving picture book memoir about serving in the segregated army during World War II, and how love and the pursuit of art sustained him.

In May of 1942, at the age of eighteen, Ashley Bryan was drafted to fight in World War II. For the next three years, he would face the horrors of war as a black soldier in a segregated army.

He endured the terrible lies white officers told about the black soldiers to isolate them from anyone who showed kindness—including each other. He received worse treatment than even Nazi POWs. He was assigned the grimmest, most horrific tasks, like burying fallen soldiers…but was told to remove the black soldiers first because the media didn’t want them in their newsreels. And he waited and wanted so desperately to go home, watching every white soldier get safe passage back to the United States before black soldiers were even a thought.

For the next forty years, Ashley would keep his time in the war a secret. But now, he tells his story.

The story of the kind people who supported him.
The story of the bright moments that guided him through the dark.
And the story of his passion for art that would save him time and time again.

Filled with never-before-seen artwork and handwritten letters and diary entries, this illuminating and moving memoir by Newbery Honor–winning illustrator Ashley Bryan is both a lesson in history and a testament to hope.

Publisher: ‎ Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books (October 15, 2019)
Language : ‎ English
Hardcover: ‎ 112 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1534404902
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1534404908
Reading age: ‎ 10 years and up
Lexile measure: ‎ 990L
Grade level: ‎ 5 - 6

Lo que debería de saber si su hijo o hija quiere enrolarse en las fuerzas armadas.

Interview with John Judge of the Committee on High School Options & Information on Careers, Education and Self-Improvement (C.H.O.I.C.E.S.) recorded January 22, 2000 in Seattle.

Is "Opting Out" Really an Answer? Schools, Militarism, and the Counter-RecruitmentMovement in Post-September 11 United States at WarAuthor(s): Stuart TannockReviewed work(s):Source:
Social Justice,
Vol. 32, No. 3 (101), Waging War over Public Education and YouthServices (2005), pp. 163-178Published by:
Social Justice/Global Options

The Junior Reserve Officer Trainings Corps (JROTC) was originally developed under the National Defence Act of 1916 to increase U.S. readiness in the face of World War I. The program experienced rapid expansion in the 1990’s, which continues to this day. The courses in military science are taught in high schools by retired military personnel and are a highly successful recruiting and public relations tool for the military. If a JROTC unit or academy is starting up or already running in your community, begin raising questions. Meet with the principal, teachers’ union representatives, student groups, and school board members and challenge them to consider what tradeoffs have been made.

Kansas military alternatives such as: money for college, job training/skills, direction in life, discipline, to be part of a team, travel, to serve their country, to get out of trouble with the law, physical training, even citizenship.

Kentucky military alternatives such as: money for college, job training/skills, direction in life, discipline, to be part of a team, travel, to serve their country, to get out of trouble with the law, physical training, even citizenship.

bit.ly/KtNJROTCinschools

The following videos challenge the justifications for the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) programs to be located in US and US territory high schools. These programs number more than 4000 in high schools nationally representing Army, Navy, and Air Force, (Now Space Force). The U.S. Army's JROTC program currently operates in more than 1,700 public and private high schools, military institutions, and correctional centers throughout the United States and overseas.

The Knitting the Network: JROTC in Schools Palm Card document is to be used for counter-recruitment in high and middle schools and its QR codes and links direct students, teachers, and parents to the following Youtube videos:

1. Should JROTC be in schools?

2. Is JROTC a Character Education program?

3. Teaching Marksmanship in Schools?

This document offers four palm cards in black and white version in PDF format for printing and cutting into four sized palm cards | Cheap Printing

The videos utilize the imagery and practice of knitting as a non-invasive theme to discuss a controversial subject of military indoctrination programs in our schools that have the ultimate goal of generating military recruits once these cadets finish high school. The rate of those who complete four years of JROTC entering into the armed forces is about 40%.

These videos were produced in the NNOMY southern office in 2018.

The QR Code takes the viewer to the Youtube Channel Knitting the Network

Know Before You Go, 'Cause There's No Reset Button is a collaboration with the Ya-Ya Network (Youth Activists-Youth Allies), a youth of color-led antimilitarist organization based in NYC.

(updated version: 12/13/2011 Folks should discard any other recent versions you are distributing)

Our leaflet breaks down the enlistment contract and life in the military and provides new stats about sexual assault in the military, racial disparities in becoming an officer, and stop-loss.

Written to be accessible to everyone while providing the most important info for making a fully informed choice about joining the military, this leaflet will be a staple for counter-recruiters.

Available  on our online store for $0.15/copy plus 20% shipping.

The US military says it has met its recruitment goals for 2007. However, signing new soldiers is getting more difficult, with an unpopular war in Iraq and open-ended commitments both there and in Afghanistan.

New figures reveal there has been a 40 per cent drop in African-Americans signing up for the army. The Pentagon wants to expand the size of the army to 547,000 soldiers by the year 2010, and are counting on Hispanics to fill the gap. To do so, recruiters are turning to incentives to bolster their numbers. Mike Kirsch explores the sometimes questionable tactics being used to entice Latino recruits into the US army.

GUESTS: Arlene Inouye, Coalition Against Militarism in Our Schools, Pat Elder, Peace Action Montgomery Anti-recruitment activists are hailing the recent announcement by the Los Angeles Unified School District of a new policy to better protect students’ personal information from the military. The policy is the result of discussions with teachers and the ACLU.

The Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, or JROTC, is a federal program sponsored by the US Armed Forces in high schools and some middle schools across the nation and at US military bases globally. It currently teaches its lessons to more than half a million students in approximately 3,400 high schools nationwide.

In recent years, the military and its supporters have been promoting the idea of a significant increase in the number of high schools with JROTC—one proposal calls for expanding up to 6,000. Because of this, one nonprofit decided it was time to examine the textbooks used in JROTC classes to see what they are teaching.

The Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities, or Project YANO, is a counter-recruitment organization founded in 1984 and based in San Diego country. It released its findings in early July. Their reviewers have backgrounds in classroom teaching or education activists, or special knowledge of subjects JROTC claims to address, such as civil rights, violence prevention, leadership methods, and world history. Team members included current and retired high school teachers, military veterans, and a documentary film producer.

Guest – Rick Jahnkow, a co-founder and board member of Project YANO. Rick worked for 34 years as the organization’s full-time program coordinator. He has researched and organized around the issues of military recruiting, high school Jr. ROTC, and the general militarization of K-12 schools.

On her first day of high school, Andreya Thomas and several other freshmen at Detroit’s Pershing High School learned they were enrolled in a class called J.R.O.T.C., or Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. School administrators told them the program was mandatory.

Funded by the U.S. military, the program required students to wear military uniforms in class, recite patriotic declarations, and obey orders from an instructor who often yelled at them. When several tried to drop the class, school officials refused permission, even though the Pentagon says that requiring students to take the programs runs counter to its guidelines. The New York Times recently learned that thousands of public-school students were enrolled in J.R.O.T.C. either as a requirement or through automatic enrollment. Most of the schools with high enrollment numbers were attended largely by nonwhite students and those from low-income households.

Critics of Junior ROTC say that the program’s militaristic discipline prioritizes obedience over independence and critical thinking. And as we reported earlier on Law and Disorder, and now noted by the Times, the program’s textbooks often rewrite or downplay the failings of the U.S. government. With its concentration in schools with low-income and nonwhite students, some claim J.R.O.T.C. encourages students to enlist in the military rather than explore other routes to college or jobs in the civilian economy.

Guest – Rick Jahnkow works for two San Diego-based anti-militarist organizations, the Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities, or YANO, and the Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft. We spoke earlier with Rick about YANO’s J.R.O.T.C. textbook review project.

Hosted by Attorneys Heidi Boghosian, Marjorie Cohn and Julie Hurwitz

Cindy Sheehan (mother of a soldier slain in Iraq), Jim Massey (ex-Marine recruiter) and others reveal the true impact of No Child Left Behind's military recruitment in our high schools. With no end in sight to the increasingly lethal American occupation in Iraq, this is the single-most important film for concerned parents and citizens to see. Watch the 11-minute film and then take action to "opt our kids out" at LeaveMyChildAlone.org. Created by Mainstreet Moms and Working Assets. Producer: Mainstreet Moms and Working. Assets; Public Domain Film.

Presenter: Rick Jahnkow, Project YANO (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

The legal rules for what can be said in schools by teachers, students and non-school community groups are not the same:

• Teachers: can control which topics will be introduced in their classrooms - but they also must conform to state and local school district rules on curriculum content and teacher behavior.
• Students: have an inherent right to engage in free speech activities at school, including the right to express themselves on conroversial topics - but their expressive activities can be limited by “reasonable” time, place and manner guidelines.
• Non-school groups from the community: have NO automatic right to enter schools. If given access, the content of their speech can be limited. 
  

Read More in PDF

"Leon Golub: Paintings, 1950-2000," was an exhibition of some thirty-five works depicting the effects of individual and institutional power, was presented from May 18 through August 19, 2001 at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the final venue of an international tour. These expressive political paintings, many of which are mural-sized, explore issues of race, violence, war, and human suffering.

This Bulletin establishes the policy of the Los Angeles Unified School District with regard to military access to schools. The District is committed to protecting the rights of its students as well as providing as many options and opportunities as possible.

This Bulletin establishes the policy of the Los Angeles Unified School District with regard to military access to schools. The District is committed to protecting the rights of its students as well as providing as many options and opportunities as possible.

Lousiana military alternatives such as: money for college, job training/skills, direction in life, discipline, to be part of a team, travel, to serve their country, to get out of trouble with the law, physical training, even citizenship.

Letter opposing Maryland ASVAB Option 8 bill

Maine military alternatives such as: money for college, job training/skills, direction in life, discipline, to be part of a team, travel, to serve their country, to get out of trouble with the law, physical training, even citizenship.

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.

Youth and Militarism Program from the American Friends Servide Committee.

In April of 1995, the American Friends Service Committee published Making Soldiers in the Public Schools: Analysis of the Army JROTC Curriculum. The Army updated Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) textbooks in 1997 (December 5,1997), although those textbooks have not necessarily reached many or even most JROTC classrooms. The new text, "Leadership Education and Training 1" (LET 1), used in 9th and 10th grade classes, contains the most substantial revisions since 1989 (July 24, 1989). We compare the old and new versions of the curriculum. READ MORE

Report Summary and JROTC-Related Articles

• New JROTC Curriculum: Same Old Problems by Catherine Lutz, co-author of Making Soldiers in the Public Schools (April 2000)
  
• JROTC – Recruiting: What's the Connection? (March 2000)
  
• JROTC Expansion: Round Two (December 1999)
  
• Trading Books for Soldiers - summary of the report (September 1999)
  
• Summary of the AFSC report Making Soldiers in the Public Schools

Catherine Lutz, Professor of Anthropology at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is the author of Reading National Geographic (with J. Collins), Unnatural Emotions, and Language and the Politics of Emotion (with L. Abu-Lughod). She received a Ph.D. in social anthropology from Harvard University in 1980.

At publication time, Lesley Bartlett was a graduate student specializing in educational anthropology at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Lesley Bartlett is now an Associate Professor of Education at Columbia University in New York City. She has a B.A.,from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (1991), and a Ph.D., from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (2001). and has taught in the North Carolina public school system.

Very revealing text: Advises on selling the program to other school staff, kicking out bad apples, not going on strike, etc. This book was in use as of 7-2007.

We honor Martin Luther King by recovering his antiwar and anti-militarist legacy. In this time of unprecedented political hypocrisy, we see the utilization of Doctor King's words usurped by the militaristic and nationalistic Trump administration and a twisted and ironic usurpation of his ideals by military contractors in the United States of America in this last holiday honoring him. This Peace Pill is the remedy to this public relations illness.

Martin Luther King, Jr. - What he would say today about bailing out Wall Street or attacking Iran is clear when you hear what he said before he was assassinated. - (22 minutes)

Maryland military alternatives such as: money for college, job training/skills, direction in life, discipline, to be part of a team, travel, to serve their country, to get out of trouble with the law, physical training, even citizenship.

Massachusetts military alternatives such as: money for college, job training/skills, direction in life, discipline, to be part of a team, travel, to serve their country, to get out of trouble with the law, physical training, even citizenship.

The Pentagon's embrace of video games is part of a much larger phenomenon -- "militainment" -- that is reshaping how the public understands today's conflicts. The term was first coined to describe any public entertainment that celebrated the military, but today it could be redefined to mean the fascinating, but also worrisome, blurring of the line between entertainment and war. For example, while America's Army is technically a publicly funded recruiting and training platform, its main commercial rival is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, a game published by Activision Blizzard. The two games compete for market share, but also over who can better define contemporary war zones.

Memorial Day Learning Resource

For Students: Memorial Day background including human costs of our wars in the US.
Document prepared for classroom use by Military Families Speak Out & Veterans For
Peace Chapter 110 - 2022

PDF in sepia and black and white

Michigan military alternatives such as: money for college, job training/skills, direction in life, discipline, to be part of a team, travel, to serve their country, to get out of trouble with the law, physical training, even citizenship.