COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: No Child Left Behind
Student, parent question use of military test in schools
Derek Spellman, Joplin Globe
November 03, 2007
It struck Nicole Nyman, a 17-year-old honors student at East Newton
High School at Granby, as a little strange.
Instead of going to Crowder College for afternoon courses, she and a
few dozen other classmates spent part of Oct. 29 taking a test that
was administered by someone from the military, in uniform and all.
The test turned out to be the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude
Battery (ASVAB) exam, a test the U.S. military also gives prospective
enlistees to determine if they are qualified to serve in the armed
forces and, if so, whether they are qualified for certain military
occupation specialties.
East Newton school officials say that the school requires juniors to
take the ASVAB, but they said it is not for military purposes. They
say its is for the school's guidance-counseling program. At least
several other area school districts also have used the test, although
those schools either offer it to students voluntarily or allow
parents to request that their child be able to "opt out" of the test.
Officials from those schools say the ASVAB has broader applications
that can help counselors advise students about potential majors in
college or post-high-school careers and spares the district the
expense of paying for one from a private company and the time of
having to administer and/or grade it.
But the military does have access to the test scores, and one
national organization has criticized the use of the test in schools
because it also affords the military access to student information
that military recruiters could use to pressure students.
Area school officials said they have not seen an extra push from
recruiters because of students taking the ASVAB.
Nyman, who said she did not want to take the test largely because she
has no interest in the military, said she ultimately "blew" the test,
or purposefully did not answer test questions.
But her stepfather, David Lambert, said there are still larger
questions at stake.
"They are forcing students to take the test who don't want to," he
said in a phone interview. "What I am concerned about is that they
are not giving children choices."
Personal information
The ASVAB test is provided to the East Newton School District and
other school districts at no charge because the test is devised,
administered and graded by the military. The results are then shared
with the school district.
The test assesses students in areas such as science, arithmetic, word
knowledge, paragraph comprehension, auto and shop information,
mechanical comprehension and electronics. It consists of 10 sections
that require three hours to take.
"It is an exceptional tool for counselors," said Tanya Vest,
superintendent of the East Newton School District. "We use it for
(our purposes). We use it to counsel our kids about what they want to
do after high school."
Vest and other school officials have defended the test both as a good
predictor of how students will fare on the ACT, and a good indicator
of where their strengths and interests lie.
And regardless of whether a student takes the ASVAB, the military
already has access to some student information that can be used for
recruitment through the federal No Child Left Behind program, said
Kyle Farmer, director of school law for the Missouri School Board Association.
That information includes a student's name, address and phone number,
enabling a recruiter to mail or call a student if they wish.
Parents do have the right to "opt out" of the requirement and keep
their child's information confidential, Farmer said, but that would
mean schools also could not release a student's information to
colleges or universities that often use the information to send out literature.
But no matter the options, there are those who say public schools
should not be involved in the tests in that it makes them at least a
tenuous arm of the military.
The American Friends Service Committee, an organization founded by
Quakers to promote peace, has raised concerns about the use of the
ASVAB in high schools because of the information it yields to the military.
The AFSC's Web site warns that the ASVAB "gives (recruiters) much
more personal information about potential recruits" than provisions
in the No Child Left Behind Act.
"Recruiters give special attention to students in the 11th or 12th
grade who meet minimum standards what they refer to as
'pre-qualified leads,'" the AFSC's Web site states. "They use test
information to identify and reach young people they hope to sign up.
Recruiters contact these young people by letters, phone calls, and
visits to home and school. Students may receive calls from recruiters
even if they say they are not interested in joining the military."
'A useful purpose'
Locally, use of the ASVAB in school districts runs a spectrum.
The McDonald County, Joplin and Carthage school districts offer the
ASVAB test to students who wish to take it.
Joanne Slama, a guidance counselor at Neosho High School, said the
school had been using the ASVAB as an aptitude test until this year.
Now it offers online tests provided through a program called Missouri
Connection. The state pays for the tests.
Neosho used to administer the ASVAB test to all juniors, although it
did not compel students to take the test if their parents objected.
Students can still voluntarily take the test if they wish.
A key reason for the switch in tests, Slama said, was logistics: The
online test is less time-consuming, more convenient and easier to administer.
She also said the new test does better gauge students' general
interests and skills.
"Quite a bit of (the ASVAB) is applicable only to the military," she said.
Last year, Slama said she did receive phone calls from a couple of
students' parents who did not want their children to take it.
Otherwise, she said she has not heard of or seen any problems.
Military access to the test results has not translated into
additional pressure on students from recruiters.
"I don't feel a lot of pressure by recruiters," she said. "Taking the
ASVAB, I don't think that is pressure."
Susan Taber, assistant superintendent of the Carthage School
District, said the test does have applications beyond military when
it comes to measuring students' interests and abilities.
"It does serve a useful purpose," Taber said of the test.
She also said she has not heard of students complaining about extra
pressure from military recruiters.
"We have had no complaints from students," she said.
A school's place
Vest, the superintendent of the East Newton School District, also
said she has never heard any complaints.
"We have never had anyone not taken the test," she said.
Lambert said he and his stepdaughter are not opposed to the military.
Lambert said he comes from a family steeped in the military tradition.
His father, he said, served in the Marines for about 23 years.
Lambert himself briefly served in the Navy. His mother works in the
Department of Defense.
"We don't have a problem serving our country," he said.
But he said students should be afforded a choice about whether to
take a test like ASVAB.
"I just don't think that is the school's place," he said.
By the numbers
The ASVAB is given at more than 14,000 schools and Military Entrance
Processing Stations (MEPS) nationwide and is developed and maintained
by the Department of Defense.
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