Before You Enlist Video - http://beforeyouenlist.org
Researching Pop Culture and Militarism - https://nnomy.org/popcultureandmilitarism/
If you have been Harassed by a Military Recruiter - https://www.afsc.org/resource/military-recruiter-abuse-hotline
War: Turning now to Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson - Christian Science Monitor
WHAT IS IN THIS KIT? - https://nnomy.org/backtoschoolkit/
Click through to find out
Religion and militarism - https://nnomy.org/religionandmilitarism/
‘A Poison in the System’: Military Sexual Assault - New York Times
Change your Mind?
Talk to a Counselor at the GI Rights Hotline
Ask that your child's information is denied to Military Recruiters
And monitor that this request is honored.
Military Recruiters and Programs Target marginalized communities for recruits...
..and the high schools in those same communities

 Militarization of our Schools

The Pentagon is taking over our poorer public schools. This is the reality for disadvantaged youth.

 

What we can do

Corporate/conservative alliances threaten Democracy . Progressives have an important role to play.

 Why does NNOMY matter?

Most are blind or indifferent to the problem.
A few strive to protect our democracy.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

 

 

WHAT IS IT?

 

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was the name given by the Bush administration to their 2001 modification of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Under NCLB, schools and school districts could lose federal funding if they failed to make student contact information available, upon request, to military recruiters and colleges (however, students were allowed to opt out of such releases). This law also required that military recruiters be given the "same access“ to school campuses that is granted to college and employment representatives.

The Obama administration revised this law and renamed it the "Every Student Succeeds Act" (ESSA). The recruiter access provisions remained and were, in fact, made more robust. Instead of all students being able to opt themselves out of schools handing recruiters their information, now only their parents or legal guardians can do so if the students are under 18 years of age.

 

 WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

 

By requiring schools and school districts to give out student’s information to recruiters by default, instead of giving the parents an option to “opt in” to this, the process is effectively obscured. Parents and legal guardians may ignore the fact that recruiters are in possession of their children’s address, phone number, and name. This gives recruiters the ability to use a sophisticated sales’ pitch in favor of enlistment without a parent’s or legal guardian’s supervision and knowledge. 

This is also facilitated by the “same access” clause, made even more egregious by the fact that it equates military enlistment to job and college recruitment. Although there are purported job training and educational benefits gained by joining the military, there are significant risks which distance a military career from other types of jobs and future opportunities. These risks can include physical harm and psychological injuries (also known as PTSD), as well as not obtaining the benefits which were originally promised in the recruitment pitch.

 

 WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?

 

  • If you are a parent or legal guardian of a person younger than 18 years of age, contact your school to learn about their opt-out policy.
  • If you are a student and are younger than 18, ask your parents or legal guardian to contact the school on your behalf. If you are older than 18, you can submit your own opt-out request to the school.
  • Spread the word! Tell other people in your school, other parents and guardians or write to your community newspaper or school publication.
  • Hand out opt out forms, or ask school authorities (teachers, the principal, counselors) to hand them out.
  • It is legal for schools to adopt a policy restricting the activities of recruiters on campus, as long as the restrictions also apply to college and employment representatives. Such policies have been adopted in some of the nation’s largest school districts. 

 

Please consider becoming a $10 per month supporter of The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth
And our work to demilitarize our schools and youth.
Donate Here

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Revised 02/20/2020

The National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth (NNOMY) is supported by individual contributions and a grant by the Craigslist Charitable Fund - 2023 Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. NNOMY websites are hosted by The Electric Embers Coop.

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Contact NNOMY

NNOMY

The National Network Opposing

the Militarization of youth
San Diego Peace Campus

3850 Westgate Place
San Diego, California 92105 U.S.A.
admin@nnomy.org  +1 619 798 8335
Tuesdays & Thursdays 12 Noon till 5pm PST
Skype: nnomy.demilitarization

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