COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Student Privacy
Some opt out of military options
Judy Keen, USA TODAY
11/4/2006
LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. — Brian Berman, a senior at Stevenson High School,doesn't want to join the military, doesn't want calls from recruiters,
doesn't want them at his door.
So his parents signed a form that prevents the school from giving his
contact information to recruiters. A provision of the No Child Left Behind
law requires high schools to share students' names, phone numbers and
addresses with military recruiters unless students or their parents choose
to opt out.
Recruiters still come to school, he says, and "try to act all friendly."
Berman, 18, doesn't buy their pitches about career and educational
opportunities. "It's ridiculous," he says. "They're trying to bribe you to
enlist."
Pentagon officials say recruiters just want the same information that goes
to colleges and companies to make career pitches to students.
If Berman's parents had not signed the form, the school would be required
to share his contact information with military recruiters under the 2001 law.
More than half of the nearly 4,500 students at Stevenson in this north
Chicago suburb have submitted the forms. Schools that don't comply risk
losing federal funds. None have so far.
Spreading the word
The Pentagon and the Education Department don't track how many students ask
not to be contacted by military recruiters. Opponents of the practice are
spreading the word that parents must take action if they object:
•A conference called "Education Not Militarization! " will be held Saturday
in Los Angeles. Arlene Inouye, a high-school teacher and founder of the
Coalition Against Militarism in Our Schools, says the group has members in
50 schools who make sure parents and students know their rights.
Lupe Lujan of San Gabriel, Calif., got involved in the group after her son
Samuel, then 17, showed up at home a couple years ago with a military
recruiter to get Samuel's Social Security card, needed to take a military
aptitude test. "I was very happy to tell the recruiter, 'You're not taking
my son,' " Lujan says.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill this fall that would
have required schools to include an opt-out box to check on student
emergency-contact cards. Some schools mail notices about opting out to
parents, others send them home with students.
•Parents and peace activists in Montgomery County, Md., distributed opt-out
forms to parents at back-to-school nights this fall.
•In Duluth, Minn., the Parent Teacher Student Association Council persuaded
high schools to push back the deadline to turn in the forms from Oct. 1 to
Nov. 1 and stepped up efforts to make parents aware of the requirement.
•The National PTA supports changing the federal law so recruiters could not
approach students unless their parents "opt in" and request such contact.
Marine Maj. Stewart Upton, a Pentagon spokesman, says the law doesn't give
the military an edge over other institutions interested in giving students
career choices. It requires schools to "provide military recruiters the
same access that's provided to colleges and other prospective employers,"
he says.
Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox in
Kentucky, says recruiters want to work with the schools. "The idea is to
have a strong personal and professional relationship with your schools," he
says.
Students who submit the opt-out forms, Smith says, aren't necessarily
precluding all contact. "It means that the school isn't going to give us
that student contact information, " he says. "It doesn't mean the recruiter
might not contact the student anyway."
Recruiters can get students' names from other sources, such as career days
at schools. If a student calls a military branch's toll-free number,
responds to a letter or asks for information online, recruiters can make
contact, Smith says.
Juniors and seniors are the focus of recruiters from all military branches.
At Stevenson, recruiters organize exercise competitions and give prizes
such as key chains and T-shirts.
That doesn't bother Kris Ozga, 17, a senior. His parents didn't sign the
opt-out form, and he gets calls from recruiters, even on his cellphone.
"They're like, 'Oh, have you even thought about enlisting?' " he says. He
did think about it, but he's pursuing a college baseball scholarship.
He didn't like some recruiters' style. "Sometimes they don't back off," he
says.
Kareem Miller, 17, didn't opt out and sometimes gets three or four calls a
month. "It doesn't really bother anybody," he says. "It might make people
worry, though, if there's a draft."
Students recruited for years
Recruiting high-school students isn't new. Pam Polakow, whose son attended
Stevenson before the law took effect in 2002, says military recruiters were
"extremely persistent" when he was in school, calling at least once a week.
"I was very uncomfortable, " she says.
Daniel Mater, 17, a Stevenson senior, says his parents signed the form.
"They made the decision, but I never had any interest in the military," he
says. "It saves me time."
Senior Gino Ciarroni, 18, has been talking to recruiters from the Army,
Marines and Navy. "I'm interested in serving my country," he says, "and
getting help with college." He's had trouble, though, getting answers about
what military job he would qualify for and how much money he'd get for college.
Recruiters gave him their cellphone numbers and seem to be "there to help,"
he says. He's considering joining the Reserve Officers' Training Corps.
Senior Robert Warren, 17, doesn't mind the calls. "They're very
respectful," he says. "When I told them I'm not interested, they stopped
calling."
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