COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: General
Why Put Students On Path To Army?
ROSE SWAIM, Courant.com
December 15, 2006
The military is an ever-present organization in Hartford's high schools,with recruiters flagging down students who look like they would succeed in
the military.
Recruiters stop students during the lunch waves and talk about the
financial benefits of joining up and how military service can get you
through college. They never mention, however, that at some point you may be
asked to put your life on the line in actual combat.
Now, Superintendent of Schools Steven J. Adamowski and Mayor and Board of
Education Chairman Eddie Perez are considering an idea to create a public
military school for middle and high school students. Although I strongly
believe that there is a need for greater structure and discipline in the
Hartford school system, I do not believe for one minute that a public
military school is the way to get it.
Putting students in a military school would automatically create a draw to
the military after high school, regardless of whether academics are the
main focus. At a time when the American military is so active around the
world, this is risky.
Instead of creating new opportunities for students to get away from
violence, a military school would induce students to become involved in
organized violence.
Perez argues that the military school would be just like the Greater
Hartford Academy of the Arts or the Greater Hartford Classical Magnet
School. But as a student of both Hartford Public High School and the
academy of the arts, I have to disagree.
The arts academy pushes students to discover themselves and it provides
creative, positive outlets for students, some of whom come from unstable
home environments. It is a comfortable, accepting place to be. It does not
offer the discipline of shoveling sand or doing push-ups when you make a
mistake or are having a bad day.
I firmly believe that such forms of discipline are problematic in many
ways. The idea that students should deal with problems through physical
means is reinforced, although this is the kind of thinking that schools
should discourage and students should be moving away from.
Instead of shoving all the bad kids into the Army, Adamowski should focus
on the schools that already exist. He should worry about fixing them and
helping the troublemakers.
I think that building a military school is just an easy way for him to get
those students out of his hair. The high schools have good programs and
lots of things to offer - they just don't have the money to make the
programs as effective as they could be.
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