May 18, 2005

Banning Recruiters: It's Not Just for Colleges Anymore

We've all heard of the colleges who seek to ban military recruiters from their campuses in violation of the Solomon Amendment. Basically, any educational institution that receives government funding must allow military recruiters along with those from the private sector. The Supreme Court is, in fact, going to review the law in light of a lower court ruling in favor of a group of 25 law schools who want to ban the recruiters.

This sort of behavior from "higher education" has come to be expected. Now, at least one high school is following suit...in Seattle. Gosh, Seattle? Who would have guessed?

Garfield High School took a decisive step last week with a vote of 25 to 5 to adopt a resolution that says "public schools are not a place for military recruiters."

The school feels it's doing its duty by protecting the children:

"The mission of the PTA is to protect and defend kids," says Amy Hagopian, a mother of three whose son is a Garfield senior. "It's not just limited to education issues - which explains why the PTA takes positions on kids' health, violence, and other serious issues."

Of course, the fact that these children will be legal adults when they enter the armed forces is of no consequence. Recruiters aren't going for goggle-eyed freshmen, but students who are near graduation and seeking career alternatives.

Safety concerns aren't the only motives behind this move. There's concern that while the government is spending big bucks in Iraq, classes are being slashed:

"They're spending $4 billion a month in Iraq, but we have to cut our race relations class, which costs $12,500," Ms. Hagopian pointed out. "That's an important class for our kids."

Really? I'd love to see a copy of the syllabus. Whatever happened to setting a good example and teaching kids to rely on common sense? Instead, we spend money on race relations classes. My education is obviously incomplete, as this kind of thing simply didn't exist when I was in school. Maybe that's what's wrong with me...

What it comes down to is that these parents in Seattle dislike the military. Period. End of discussion. And rather than discuss these issues at home with their children, they figure everyone will benefit by their superior wisdom that the evil recruiters must be kept away. No matter that these high school students, getting ready to head into the real world, are supposed to be able to make choices based on what they are learning at home and at school.

If they're old enough to decide which college to go to, drive a car and hold a job, they're old enough to know if the military interests them or not.

These people accuse the military of discrimination. This is a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

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