Mennonite Central Committee

Military Recruitment in Public High Schools of Ohio

It was very disturbing to me when our political representatives in Washington voted to pass the "No Child Left Behind Act". Attached to the end of that legislation was provision for military recruiters to legally get contact information about any student attending a public high school.

As a Mennonite, I wanted my son to be able to take advantage of the "opt out" provision in that act and not have his personal information shared with any military recruiters. So, the summer after his sophomore year I wrote a letter to his high school asking that his name and information not be shared with any military recruiters. The counseling office secretary called me at home to inform me that his information had already been requested and had gone out. I was too late and my son was only 15 years old then. The military recruiters had made their request sometime during my son's sophomore year. (Parents and students should also be aware that personal student information can be made available when taking the PSAT. If the box on the PSAT is checked to 'make this information available to other organizations' any military recruiter has access to that student's contact information.)

I presently have a job which occasionally takes me into some public schools in Ohio and it is in some of those schools that I have witnessed some military recruiters in action. The following list, in no particular order, contains some of the military recruiting happenings which have taken place in Ohio over the past two years. I will identify these schools only by general geographic area and not by specific district name. Anyone can e-mail me for more specific information.

1. October 2005 — a small town in northwest Ohio I exited a school mid-afternoon at the same time a recruiter was escorting a high school girl out of the building. I followed them from a distance to a local restaurant not far from the school. I asked to be seated in the booth next to them so I could hear their conversation. The girl stated that she wasn't sure just what she wanted to do after graduation and the smooth-talking recruiter began with all kinds of promises of college tuition paid, regular pay while serving you country, making good friends for life, excitement, etc.
2. January 2006 — small town in northern Ohio While I was waiting in the school's main office, an Army recruiter entered and started to sign the visitor's register. The principal immediately noticed the recruiter, walked toward the counter and told the recruiter that he didn't need to sign in. Then they shook hands and slapped each other on the back. The recruiter reached into his bag and pulled out a new coffee mug with an Army logo on it and gave it to the principal. The principal told him that he would have a table set up for him just outside the cafeteria. Both men seemed happy.
3. November 2005 — small town in central Ohio My son told me that the military recruiters would purposefully wander into the school's cafeteria even though they were assigned a specific area with a table in the main hall of his school. This day the recruiter approached a table full of high school fellows including my son. The recruiter asked, "Do all of you guys know what you are going to do after high school? How about the Army?" The fellows chuckled and said they weren't interested.
4. March 2006 — told to me by a parent from a small district in an urban setting in the Columbus metropolitan area An Army recruiter managed to weasel himself into the band room of the high school and was telling students that if they joined the Army, they could play in the Army Band and, consequently, not see any combat duty. When parents got word of this invasion into the band room, they were livid, and that recruiter's band room visits came to an abrupt halt.
5. October 2006 — small school on the Ohio River in eastern Ohio Only administrators and teachers were in the building as the students had the day off for this teachers' Professional Day. Just before noon the principal came on the P.A. system to announce an invitation for lunch: "All teachers are invited to a lunch today in the cafeteria and it is provided by the US Army." I hung around for a few minutes to see what was happening. The condition was that the teachers were asked to listen to the recruiters' 10-minute speech before they ate the Army-provided fancy, delicious-looking, catered meal. The speech was smooth and answers to questions were polished.
6. January 2007 — large high school in the Cleveland area While talking to a suburban high school science department head about scientific lab equipment, an Army recruiter appeared at the teacher's office door with three, large attractive, laminated charts of the Periodic Table of the Elements. He handed them to the department head and asked him, "Now do you need anything else like pencils or rulers?" Of course all of these 'freebies' to any teacher carry a stamp in large, clear letters identifying it as a gift of the U. S. Army.
7. May 2006 - suburban high school (less than 10 miles from my home) in the Columbus area. The most inspiring and hopeful experience for me came from a senior who was president of his high school's Peace Club. He had contacted the Central Ohioans For Peace where my name was given to him. He was looking for a speaker to share some ideas about alternatives to military service with their Peace Club. The president, after an initial inquiry with the school administration, now wanted this meeting to held off of school property. So, we met one weekday evening in the early evening (to also accommodate students in after-school activities) in a reserved meeting room of the local public library.

I felt honored to be invited to this meeting (along with a retired Methodist minister) with about 20 wide-awake, high school students who were serious about doing some kind of constructive work or service instead of being involved with any branch of the U. S. military. What really impressed me was the counter-recruitment work which had already been done in the high school. These students had gone to the building principal and expressed to him how uncomfortable they felt when military recruiters were in the building. To my surprise, the administration listened to the students and agreed with them that a change of school policy was in order. Today for any recruiters (college or military) - No recruiters are welcomed or allowed into this high school building unless a student has made an appointment in advance to see that recruiter.

Fred Suter

 

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