COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Student Privacy
Military recruitment in Hawaii's public high schools
Kylie Wager, Haleakala
August 14, 2007
When it comes to military recruitment in public schools, no child's
information is left inaccessible.
According to a brief section of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act
(NCLB), any school receiving federal funding is required to provide
military recruiters with middle and high school students' names,
phone numbers, and addresses upon request. Meanwhile, the Pentagon
maintains a Department of Defense (DoD) database known as the Joint
Advertising and Market Research Studies Recruiting Database that
contains extensive information on approximately 30 million Americans
ages 16 to 25.
The database is updated daily and includes information such as social
security number, grade point average, ethnicity, areas of study,
height, weight, email address, selective service registration, and
phone number. Individuals may opt out from being included in this
database but must repeat this process upon changing address. Many
objectors claim that this database violates the Federal Privacy Act.
The military also uses the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery
as a means of information gathering. The "most widely used multiple
aptitude test in the world," the DoD develops and maintains the test
and more than half of America's high schools participate. Students'
scores determine which occupations best suit them. Taking the ASVAB
is also a requirement for military enlistment.
In order for their tests to be processed, students are required to
sign a waiver that allows the military to keep any information
provided on the form for various uses. In most cases, military
recruiters automatically receive copies of students' scores, names,
grades, sex, addresses, phone numbers, and post-graduation plans
unless the school decides against releasing this information.
"Many students will take the ASVAB and not know what it is,"
Pitcaithley says. "It gives the military a foot in the door to
accessing students."
One mother says that during her son's freshmen orientation this
summer at Baldwin High School on Maui, a guidance counselor mentioned
the ASVAB as a free test offered to students by the military.
"The counselor told us that you don't have to join the military if
you take the test, but didn't even bring up the fact that the
military will have a record of the students' information and that
they may be subject to recruitment, " the mother says. "I don't think
the schools are trying to be covert but I think they may be
misguided." The mother prefers not to reveal her name because she
does not want her son to have problems at school, nor does she want
people to think she is unpatriotic. The Baldwin guidance office could
not be reached to determine whether the school releases ASVAB
information to the military.
Recruitment and Military on Campus
Hawaii ranked fourteenth in the nation in 2006 for the number of
active-duty Army recruits per 1,000 youth ages 15 through 24,
according to an Army report requested by the National Priorities
Project (NPP). The report also ranked Honolulu number 22 out of the
top 100 U.S. counties for the number of active-duty Army recruits in 2006.
Combined with the 116,000 retired military personnel living in
Hawaii, the military-connected population totals 217,030 (17 percent
of Hawaii's total population). The 2000 U.S. Census found that Hawaii
has the largest percentage of its population in the military among the states."
In addition to military recruiters' ability to gain access to student
information, in many cases they also command a strong presence on
high school campuses.
Pete Shimazaki, who has been a teacher on Oahu in various capacities
for the past five years, says he witnessed an Army recruiter holding
a push-up contest at Farrington High School on Oahu that required
students to fill out their name, address, and phone number on a
clipboard before competing for an Army T-shirt.
Shimizaki, who is also coordinator for Oahu's truth in recruiting
group, CHOICES, mentions that in some schools recruiters also hold
assemblies, give presentations in classrooms, have their own desks at
schools, and volunteer to chaperone at school functions.
"You can't go anywhere without seeing military advertising, " he says.
"There are calendars, lanyards, book covers, and recruiters
everywhere." The DoD's spending on recruiting stations and
advertising surpassed $1.8 billion in 2006. When you include the pay
and benefits of 22,000 military recruiters and other related costs
the total amount spent is around $4 billion per year, according to the NPP.
A teacher at Hilo High reports that the principal, a former marine,
allowed an Air Force jazz band to perform during lunch one day, and
while the band was warming up, the students heard the music from
their classrooms, got excited, and the classes were disrupted. During
the performance, a large banner unraveled before the band revealing a
phone number to call to enlist.
"That was nasty. That was not fair," says the teacher, who chooses
not to reveal her identity in order maintain her reputation at the
school. "If you're going to show the military's side, you have to
offer other sides of the story."
Clare Loprinzi says that when she was substitute teaching at
Kealakehe High School on the Big Island two years ago, the career and
counselor office walls were covered in military posters with only two
posters for colleges. She says she posted two truth-in-recruiting
posters that were taken down that same day. Loprinzi says she also
aired on the school's morning announcements and discussed with
students some of the realities of military life including the number
of women who are raped in the military.
"I was really active at Kealakehe two years ago and then I wasn't
asked back to substitute the following year. Even though teachers
told me they wanted me to teach for them, they were told by
administration to not ask me to teach for them" Loprinzi says. "If I
can't speak the truth, then I'm not teaching. You're not going to
find other teachers who are willing to speak up like me. They are
afraid to lose their jobs."
Other Hawaii teachers contacted for this article were unwilling to
speak out on the subject of military and recruiter presence on
campus. Several throughout the state, however, reported witnessing
military recruiters approaching special education students.
"We thought this was criminal," says Diaz, who was contacted by
concerned teachers. "The students already have cognitive problems
that could affect their decision-making. It's scary."
Kajihiro, who hears about military and recruitment abuses through his
work with AFSC, says that one teacher reported that his school
offered a military recruitment fair without offering any alternative
careers or information.
"Schools should not be used for recruiting," Kajihiro says. "Schools
have an obligation to offer a world of possibilities… I think it's
true that some people gain positive experiences from the military,
but there are other ways to serve the public without taking a life."
"The relationship between recruiters and students is an area between
adults and kids that people aren't monitoring," says Catherine
Kennedy, coordinator for Truth2Youth on the Big Island. She mentions
several instances she has heard of nationwide in which recruiters
have had sexual relations with students. The Associated Press reports
that in 2005 more than 80 military recruiters were disciplined for
sexual misconduct with potential enlistees and that 722 Army
recruiters have been accused of rape and sexual misconduct since 1996.
JROTC
The Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps reports more than 3,200
units nationwide, 501,000 students enrolled, and 700 schools on
waiting lists to obtain programs. State education funds and federal
DoD funds totaling $600 per JROTC student per year supply instructor
salaries, learning materials, uniforms, and equipment. Principals may
choose to allocate school funds for additional program needs. Of
Hawaii's 46 public non-charter high schools, 24 have JROTC programs.
"We're pretty saturated, naturally, as a small state," says Lt. Col.
Antoinette Correia, Hawaii JROTC coordinator. "The JROTC curriculum
focuses on civics, physical fitness, and optional extracurricular
activities such as rappelling, military skills, marksmanship,
obstacle courses, and drill and ceremony." She reports that six of
the state's JROTC programs offer marksmanship in which cadets fire
pellet guns. The JROTC curriculum, a three or four year program for
high school students, was developed by the military and is taught by
retired military personnel. It emphasizes military service as one of
the several ways one can serve and lead the country.
"These recruiters and JROTC instructors are not certified teachers,
yet they are given the same access to students as teachers,"
Pitcaithley says. "This makes parents and students think they have to
trust them."
West Hawaii Today reported on April 12, 2007, that a male teacher
allegedly had sexual relations with a female student in the tenth
grade at Kealakehe High School before the school's Easter break this
year. West Hawaii Complex Area Superintendent Art Souza confirms the
teacher in question is a JROTC instructor. Souza says the
investigation is complete but that a final decision has not yet been
made as to what will happen to the instructor, whose name has not yet
been released.
"This is a complicated situation," Souza says. "We have to deal with
the teacher's contract with the DOE, the police investigation and
criminal proceedings, and the teacher's contract with the military."
Objectors argue that JROTC is yet another way for the military and
recruitment to expand its influence in schools. An AFSC executive
summary reads: "Public schooling strives to promote respect for other
cultures, critical thinking, and basic academic skills in a safe
environment. In contrast, JROTC introduces guns into the schools,
promotes authoritarian values, uses rote learning methods, and
consigns much student time in the program to learning drill, military
history and protocol, which have little relevance outside the military."
Cadets are required to wear JROTC uniforms once a week. At some
schools, cadets carry the flag at football games, hold drill meets,
and march ahead of the class at graduation ceremonies.
"I've seen JRTOC teachers yelling at kids and being really
intimidating, " says Loprinzi of her experiences at Kealakehe High
School. She adds that instructors often approach less popular kids to
sign up and that students have told her JROTC teachers encourage
students to enlist in the military in order to have their college paid for.
"Recruitment is not our goal," Correia says. "The kids JROTC attracts
are often those who can't find a place in high school. We give them a
place where they can belong and where they can feel good about themselves."
Although the AFSC reports that 45 percent of JROTC cadets join the
military after high school, Correia says this figure is around 20
percent for Hawaii programs.
About Face, Forward March, and Community All Stars
The National Guard sponsors three extracurricular programs About
Face, Forward March, and Community All Stars that are available to
students throughout the nation. In Hawaii, these programs are
available in varying degrees on Oahu, Kauai, Molokai, Maui, and the Big Island.
The program pays students $15 per after school session and are
available at schools for 12 to 19 year olds, depending on the
program. The programs claim to offer work and life skills, critical
thinking exercises, supplemental guest speakers, budget and meal
planning, among others. Program directors say that these programs are
not used for recruiting.
Opting Out
There are options for parents who want to safeguard their children
from recruiters and the programs they promote. The NCLB act, states
that students or parents can opt out from having their information
released to the military. Still, questions remain as to whether
people are aware of this option.
In Hawaii, the number of students who opted out from having their
personal information released to recruiters rose from 1,913 to
21,836, nearly a quarter of the secondary student body, from the
2005/2006 to 2006/2007 school years. "Students can initiate opt out
requests by turning in some formal writing,"says Greg Kanudsen,
communications director for the Hawaii State Board of Education
(BOE). "Parents don't even have to sign." He also explains that opt
out requests are valid only for the school year in which they are
submitted. One must opt out each year in order to keep information private.
Ann Pitcaithley, coordinator for Maui Careers in Peacemaking, notes
that in her experience promoting truth in recruiting she has found
that a high percentage of parents are unaware that their children may
opt out. Many cases, however, have been reported in which recruiters
have contacted students regardless of the fact that they had
requested otherwise.
"My daughter opted out and was contacted by recruiters at least twice
on her cell phone," explains Ave Diaz, who launched Careers in
Peacemaking in 2005. "They finally ceased when she told them her
mother was a peace activist."
Lies and Truth in Recruiting
Former Navy Officer Pablo Paredes, who made headlines in December
2004 when he refused to deploy to serve the war in Iraq and is now a
spokesperson against the war, says the two most common recruitment
myths are money for college and job training.
According to an article by Sam Diener of Peacework Magazine, 57
percent of veterans who sign up for the Montgomery GI Bill never
receive money for college, and the average payout for veterans who do
has been $2,151 a year. The maximum one may receive is $9,036 a year
for four years, "still less than the in-state tuition room and board
at many state universities, and only a fraction of the cost of a
private college," Diener writes.
One must serve a minimum three years of active duty, receive an
honorable discharge, and pay $100 per month for the first 12 months
they are in the military in order to be eligible for MGIB. Those who
are later ruled ineligible receive no refund.
"Military job training is often restricted to military needs and
therefore does not transfer well into the civilian world," Paredes
explains. He says he cannot utilize his Navy technical expertise
outside of the military, and because of his discharge conditions, he
neither received money for college, nor was he refunded the $1,200 he paid.
Shimazaki, who served as a medic in the Army from 1986 to 1989, says
he did receive money for college but that "it wasn't worth it."
He adds that recruiters told him before he enlisted that if he became
a medic in the military he would be able to get a job in a hospital
afterward. When he was discharged just before the Gulf War, he found
it impossible to find such a job because his skills did not transfer.
"I experienced first hand the pressure from recruiters. They don't
operate on full disclosure," he says. Currently, Shimazaki is working
toward obtaining his Hawaii DOE certification and is student teaching
this school year. He also volunteers for the GI Rights Hotline.
"I am concerned with the proliferation of militarism in schools. I
have the privilege of seeing what's been happening in public schools
and it's alarming," Shimazaki says. "The recruiters use scare
tactics. They make students think they'll never survive financially
after high school without joining the military."
Reports and videos of recruiters telling students they won't have to
go to Iraq if they join, they can get out of the military easily if
they change their minds, and they can choose where they are based
flood the Internet via YouTube, peace websites, and blogs.
Since the advent of the war in Iraq and NCLB, truth in recruiting
groups have been sprouting across the nation with a mission to offer
students the "other side" and alternatives to joining the military
that they say recruiters and educators fail to mention. There are
currently four such groups in Hawaii Truth2Youth on the Big Island,
CHOICES on Oahu, Careers in Peacemaking on Maui, and Kauai Peace
Ohana on Kauai.
"The objective of CHOICES is not to tell people not to join the
military, but to inform young people of the realities of war and the
alternatives to military service so that they can make a choice,"
Shimazaki says. Similar to other truth in recruiting groups, CHOICES
aims to show students other ways to finance college and serve their
communities.
"We strive toward advocacy versus activism," Kennedy says. "Average
teenagers aren't going to know that they don't have to listen to or
can be skeptical of what recruiters say. Recruiters only give one
side of the story. They're under enormous pressure to reach their
quotas. Being a recruiter is a really good job compared to others in
the military. They get regular hours, they won't be deployed, they
get a car and a cell phone, and they can be close to their families.
So recruiters have to keep this job by getting more recruits."
A facts and statistics sheet compiled for truth in recruiting states,
among many other things, that all provisions of a military contract
are subject to change, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder affects one out
of every six soldiers, soldiers who served in Iraq are committing
suicide at higher rates than in any other war where such figures were
documented, 90 percent of recent female veterans report sexual
harassment within the military, a third of which reported being
raped, and that alcohol misuse rose form 13 to 22 percent in the year
after soldiers returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. This data was
compiled from the DoD, the Veteran's Association, the Army Times
Publication, and the GI Rights Association.
Last year Kennedy and Pitcaithly were successful in holding
assemblies in several schools on Maui and the Big Island in which
Paredes spoke about the realities of the military and war.
"The kids were just stunned," Kennedy says. "They knew nothing about
war. Kids in a history class I spoke to couldn't even define
'civilian casualty.'"
Pitcaithley says she also sets up tables at career fairs, holds
workshops in classrooms, and gives presentations to youth groups.
"We take an interactive approach with students. We ask them about
their presumptions about the military and their experiences with
recruiters and then we debunk their ideas and present the realities,"
says Pitcaithley, who also conducts an extensive review of the
enlistment contract with students.
The Hawaii BOE Controversial Issues Policy states: "Student
discussion of issues which generate opposing points of view shall be
considered a normal part of the learning process in every area of the
school program…Teachers shall refer students to resources reflecting
all points of view."
There is also a federal ninth circuit court ruling mandating that
when the military comes to a high school, students have a legal right
to hear diverse views.
"If schools are allowing recruiters into the schools they have the
obligation to offer alternative information and opposing viewpoints
about the military and war," Kajihiro says.
"The kids aren't getting facts. They're getting an aggressive
military marketing campaign," Kennedy says.
Despite the policies and rulings in favor of truth in recruitment,
these groups often experience difficulties gaining access to schools.
First, they must find a teacher who is willing to support them or
invite them to speak to the class, and then, they must obtain
approval from the principal to enter the school.
"It's very, very hard work," Kennedy says. "It's intense. It's me
versus the six young, good-looking recruiters for each branch of the
military. Sometimes teachers don't return my calls and say they don't
have time for me to do a presentation because they're focused on
passing tests. Sometimes it's the principal that doesn't want to let us in."
She adds that some teachers are afraid to be perceived as unpatriotic
and that other newer teachers are afraid to lose their jobs if they
are not tenured. "Are they really serving kids by giving us the
runaround?" she asks.
"There's a lot of fear concerning this issue," Kajihiro says. If
you're working in a school there's a lot of pressure. If you say
anything that the military doesn't like you'll be branded as unpatriotic. "
This archive consists of a topically organized selection of
articles culled by members of the Counter-Recruitment List Serve from printed
publications and web sites. The archive is not complete. We have chosen
material relevant to the work of