SWOPblogger

I encourage you to read the entire article, it's amusing to read the JROTC instructors response throughout the entire thing.

I can just imagine him talking out the side of his mouth. If anyone has had an experience with military recruiters you KNOW what they are like. You KNOW deceptive sweet talk is a part of their repertoire.

He also contradicts himself saying that recruitment isn't targeted to poor young people. But then at the end of the article he states, that of course young people who have college paid for wouldn't think of going into the military. What's that percentage? And how many of them go to Rio Grande!

The SWOP youth and Another Side have taken on an intense battle to fight the structural racism here in Albuquerque around military recruitment. They will soon be on campuses exposing young people to various opportunities available to them. It's time for change, and they're making it happen!

Viva los jovenes!

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News Feature

Military Brats
Waging a war against recruitment at Albuquerque’s public high schools

By Kate Trainor

In Albuquerque’s high schools, students are more likely to sign up for military service than join the student senate. The armed forces are as popular as any school sport and, on many campuses, military recruiters and the JROTC are a more prominent presence than college or career scouts.

Since the beginning of the Iraq war, a group of Albuquerque-based activists has rallied for “balanced” representation of post-secondary opportunities in New Mexico’s public schools. The military, they say, is selling students on the service with sugarcoated stories and deceptive sweet talk.

Statistics indicate the sales pitch has been a success. Since 2005, military recruitment in New Mexico is up by 23 percent, reports the National Priorities Project. Conversely, college enrollment has stagnated. According to the 2005-2006 Report on the Condition of Higher Education, published by the New Mexico Department of Higher Education, “Enrollment at New Mexico’s public institutions of higher education is relatively flat … [and] will remain flat.”

Still, Sgt. Stephen Standifird, public affairs representative for Recruiting Albuquerque, denies any dishonesty in communication with students. “I don’t think there are a lot of blatant lies told to kids,” he says, though he acknowledges that “a recruiter has to gear their spiel to a particular kid.” Standifird says there is competition among the various military academies and that, occasionally, one will slander another to win a recruit. Otherwise, he says, recruiters are straightforward.

A year ago, the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice partnered with the SouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP) to form Another Side, a campaign to lobby for the availability of “balanced” information about military service on APS campuses. Another Side contends that military recruiters are given preferential access to students over other groups, specifically those that advocate for peace. The group itself says it has had difficulty gaining access to the schools. By law, a school must allow military recruiters on its campus if it receives federal funds.

Casandra Stewart, now a youth intern with SWOP, graduated from West Mesa High School in 2003. Stewart recalls military recruiters calling her “at least once a week,” she says. “They would say that I needed to contact them. They were very manipulative, very knifing. I felt really targeted.” Stewart surmises that most students join the military for the promise of financial security. But, she says, “They need to know that alternatives exist.” While in school, Stewart says, she didn’t see any college or career recruiters, but felt the military was “always in [her] ear.”

To read the rest of the article click here: Weekly Alibi

Wanna Opt Out
The No Child Left Behind Act requires school districts to release student names and contact information to the military, though the law also stipulates that school districts notify students and their parents of their right to opt out of this information sharing. However, Another Side claims that students are seldom aware of this provision, as school districts fail to inform them of it. Rigo Chavez, director of communications for APS, says opt-out information is provided during student registration and through a variety of school communications, such as newsletters.

Students and parents who wish to withhold their information can download the opt-out form online at www.militaryfreezone.org/opt_out.

Labels: APS, Equal Access, military recruitment, youth