Uncle Sam Wants YOU… and he’s waiting in the cafeteria
Another man, slightly older, stood beside him, also in uniform. My peers looked curiously over at the table, and most of them wandered over and talked to the two men. The kids asked them questions and looked through all of the material the men had brought.
Later, I talked to one of my friends, who had gone over to talk to the recruiters. He announced that he had decided that day to join the Marines. I asked him why, and he told me he wanted to do something with his life. He wanted to be a hero. He told me that he was going to go into the Marines and then they would pay for his college education. After college, he was going to be a police officer. I told him he could be hurt in combat in the Marines, and then he wouldn't be able to fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer. His face fell for just an instant, then brightened again, as he turned to me and said, "Yeah, maybe -- but after four years in the Marines, how much of a man would I be!"
I told him he could die. He told me he wouldn't. He told me the Marines assured him they wouldn't let him die.
I was beyond shocked to walk into lunch and find the Marines recruiting my fourteen-year-old friends. In a mere ten minutes, my young friend was told he could be a hero. And now he wants to be exactly that. He says the Marines won't let him die, that they'll pay for college and he can become a police officer. He says that he feels like he needs to do it. It's his "duty."
What are they getting him into? He has no idea. My friend could die ten minutes into duty. If he died, would he be a hero? My high school lacks ways in which kids can express compassion, engage their own will to do something and make a difference, to care about the world and help in some other less life-threatening way. This boy obviously has compassion, and he wants a bright future. He sees his goal of becoming a police officer as a way to help others. I feel the Marines targeted that feeling in him and used it. He now thinks the Marines are his "bright future."
I pray for him. I hope it makes him happy. I talk to him about it and he seems to have doubts from time to time. Then the Marines are back, standing once again in the cafeteria, recruiting kids. They talk to my friend again, and he is re-convinced that this is the path for him and just like that, he's hooked once more. I feel that they plant the seed and then don't let you go once they have you. They come back and give out pens and stickers. We all become a walking advertisement for the Armed Forces just because we left our pencil in our last class and have to borrow.
Our school not only tolerates this, but encourages it. Teachers let us out of class to go and talk with the recruiters, and we are only freshmen. I do not live in a wealthy town, and I feel we are being taken advantage of to stock the military's needs. The Marines are not the only recruiters who come regularly to my school. All branches of the armed forces come, two or three times a trimester. They feel, to me, like an almost constant presence in my school. I do not see recruiters from colleges making monthly appearances in the cafeteria, only from the military.
My theory? The US military is using vulnerable high school kids (especially boys) to fill its ranks, while we are at war. The school puts its students in harm's way by allowing and encouraging recruitment of its students.
In my opinion, this practice of recruiting in schools needs to stop. I hear my classmates, freshmen, fourteen, fifteen years old telling me beautiful stories of when they will make $90,000 a year as a military officer, after graduating with a full college degree. For kids who don't have many other options presented to them, this sounds like heaven. It would be great if this were the truth.
It is not okay that my school is letting this happen. We have a right to our own choices at an age when we can maturely make them. I do not believe fourteen is that age. The military recruiters are getting us when we are young and unsure of our options, then grooming us for a dangerous job. School is the only place of safety for a lot of kids. I plan to fight to keep it that way.
Posted in Social JusticeStudents on Feb 15, 2010 - 06:16 PM
He stood there like a statue -- dressed head to foot in the full uniform of a United States Marine. His hands were behind his back with unmatched pride. He stood behind a table that was sitting in the middle of my cafeteria. The banner on the front of the table read "Marine Recruits."Another man, slightly older, stood beside him, also in uniform. My peers looked curiously over at the table, and most of them wandered over and talked to the two men. The kids asked them questions and looked through all of the material the men had brought.
Later, I talked to one of my friends, who had gone over to talk to the recruiters. He announced that he had decided that day to join the Marines. I asked him why, and he told me he wanted to do something with his life. He wanted to be a hero. He told me that he was going to go into the Marines and then they would pay for his college education. After college, he was going to be a police officer. I told him he could be hurt in combat in the Marines, and then he wouldn't be able to fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer. His face fell for just an instant, then brightened again, as he turned to me and said, "Yeah, maybe -- but after four years in the Marines, how much of a man would I be!"
I told him he could die. He told me he wouldn't. He told me the Marines assured him they wouldn't let him die.
I was beyond shocked to walk into lunch and find the Marines recruiting my fourteen-year-old friends. In a mere ten minutes, my young friend was told he could be a hero. And now he wants to be exactly that. He says the Marines won't let him die, that they'll pay for college and he can become a police officer. He says that he feels like he needs to do it. It's his "duty."
What are they getting him into? He has no idea. My friend could die ten minutes into duty. If he died, would he be a hero? My high school lacks ways in which kids can express compassion, engage their own will to do something and make a difference, to care about the world and help in some other less life-threatening way. This boy obviously has compassion, and he wants a bright future. He sees his goal of becoming a police officer as a way to help others. I feel the Marines targeted that feeling in him and used it. He now thinks the Marines are his "bright future."
I pray for him. I hope it makes him happy. I talk to him about it and he seems to have doubts from time to time. Then the Marines are back, standing once again in the cafeteria, recruiting kids. They talk to my friend again, and he is re-convinced that this is the path for him and just like that, he's hooked once more. I feel that they plant the seed and then don't let you go once they have you. They come back and give out pens and stickers. We all become a walking advertisement for the Armed Forces just because we left our pencil in our last class and have to borrow.
Our school not only tolerates this, but encourages it. Teachers let us out of class to go and talk with the recruiters, and we are only freshmen. I do not live in a wealthy town, and I feel we are being taken advantage of to stock the military's needs. The Marines are not the only recruiters who come regularly to my school. All branches of the armed forces come, two or three times a trimester. They feel, to me, like an almost constant presence in my school. I do not see recruiters from colleges making monthly appearances in the cafeteria, only from the military.
My theory? The US military is using vulnerable high school kids (especially boys) to fill its ranks, while we are at war. The school puts its students in harm's way by allowing and encouraging recruitment of its students.
In my opinion, this practice of recruiting in schools needs to stop. I hear my classmates, freshmen, fourteen, fifteen years old telling me beautiful stories of when they will make $90,000 a year as a military officer, after graduating with a full college degree. For kids who don't have many other options presented to them, this sounds like heaven. It would be great if this were the truth.
It is not okay that my school is letting this happen. We have a right to our own choices at an age when we can maturely make them. I do not believe fourteen is that age. The military recruiters are getting us when we are young and unsure of our options, then grooming us for a dangerous job. School is the only place of safety for a lot of kids. I plan to fight to keep it that way.
Tags for this entry:
options,
future,
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comments
Speaking of Michael Moore, he posted this news clip about recruiters who sign young people up for “delayed entry” into the military with a non-binding commitment. Then, if they want to leave, their superiors have threatened them with punishment and even jail.
on Feb 16, 2010 - 05:13 PM
Claire, this post conjures up disturbing images of young people making decisions that are much more serious than they realize. I remember observing these kinds of military recruiting practices in Michael Moore’s documentary, “Fahrenheit 911.” Wikipedia describes Moore following recruiters in his hometown of Flint, Michigan:
“The economically hard-hit town’s low-income neighborhoods were the prime target of military recruiters. A recruiter named Raymond Plouhar is introduced (he was later killed in Iraq), as he and another marine recruiter track people down in a parking lot of a mall.”
It’s even more inappropriate for recruiters to be on school campuses, particularly when they’re courting fourteen-year-olds. The school administration should be bringing in colleges, as well as speakers from a range of professions, to give students a representative view of their career options.
I hope that you do continue to speak up about your strong views on this subject. Thanks for the post.
on Feb 16, 2010 - 12:04 AM