I am interested to know what some of you think about this. This only a portion of the article the rest can be found at the following link.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2874
After what I posted it kind of goes into high schoolers opting out of handing over of their info to recruiters.
[quote]
The Children’s Crusade: Military programs move into middle schools to fish for future soldiers
By Jennifer Wedekind / In These Times
Tarsha Moore stands as tall as her 4-foot 8-inch frame will allow. Staring straight ahead, she yells out an order to a squad of peers lined up in three perfect columns next to her. Having been in the military program for six years, Tarsha has earned the rank of captain and is in charge of the 28 boys and girls in her squad. This is Lavizzo Elementary School. Tarsha is 14.
The Middle School Cadet Corps (MSCC) program at the K-8 school is part of a growing trend to militarize middle schools. Students at Lavizzo are among the more than 850 Chicago students who have enlisted in one of the city's 26 MSCC programs. At Madero Middle School, the MSCC has evolved into a full-time military academy for kids 11 to 14 years old.
Chicago public schools are home to the largest Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) program, which oversees the MSCC, in the country. When moving up to high school, Chicago's graduating eighth-graders can choose from 45 JROTC programs, including three full-time Army military academies, five "school-within-a-school" Army JROTC academies and one JROTC Naval academy.
Proponents of the programs tout leadership training and character development. But critics quote former Defense Secretary Gen. William Cohen, who described JROTC as "one of the best recruiting services that we could have." Rick Mills, the director of Military Schools and JROTC for the Chicago Public School system, dismisses these concerns. "These kinds of programs would not be in schools if there weren't kids who wanted it, parents who supported it and administrators who facilitated it," he says.
The elementary school cadet corps is a voluntary after-school program that meets two or three times a week. Programs differ from school to school, but MSCC students generally learn first-aid, civics, "citizenship" and character development. They also learn military history and take field trips to local military bases. Once a week, students wear their uniforms to school for inspections. Tarsha describes buffing her uniform shoes in preparation for inspection days. "Everything has to be perfect," she says. During drill practices they learn how to stand, turn and salute in synchronization. When they disobey an order, they do pushups. "Only 10," says one administrator.
Joanne Young, a sixth-grade teacher at Goethe School in Chicago, recently wrote a letter to the local school council protesting the implementation of the cadet corps in her school. "I was told that it is not a military program, yet every aspect of it is military," she wrote. "This program is training our students, as young as 11-years old, to march in formation and carry guns. ... Students could be suspended for bringing something that appears to be a weapon to our school, yet we are handing them fake guns for this program." Young, like many other teachers, feels that leadership and discipline could easily be taught in other types of after-school programs.
Herman Barnett, director of Lavizzo's award-winning MSCC program, asks the [quote]public to give the students the benefit of the doubt. "They don't look at it as getting ready for the army," he says. "They're just doing it for entertainment and fun."[/quote]
Why can't we just let our kids be kids for a while?
Middle school students and younger shouldn't IMO have a need to think about war and drills. If the parents want to get them involoved in some regimine how about sports or music and the arts. I wonder how many 11 year olds ask their parents to be involved in something like this. When kids are in high school and getting ready to go out into the world in a few years thats when I believe they should be introduced to these things.
[quote]"They don't look at it as getting ready for the army," he says. "They're just doing it for entertainment and fun."[/quote]
They may not look at it that way because they are kids. In reality isn't it just the opposite. I agree kids these days need discipline and something to be involved in. How about something a little less violent and military oriented.
Full Version: Military programs move into middle schools
I went to the JROTC ball when I was in HS. Trust me, I would not want those guys defending my country, LOL! And I don't know that any of them entered into service once they graduated. (It wasn't my school, but I had friends at a neighboring school who were involved in it.)
If it's a voluntary organization, what's the big deal? So they wear their uniforms once a week. Well, so do the Cub Scouts. I don't know if there is a cost involved, aside from the uniform, but it may be the cheapest activity opportunity that some kids have. Dance, art classes, sports teams, and so on can be really costly, especially in cities, so JROTC groups may be the best option.
Learning discipline, respect, and citizenship, with a little history (granted it's military) isn't a bad thing. Neither are field trips, which would be cheap, since bases aren't exactly admission fee attractions. What 's wrong with inspiring a kid to be an aviator? It would encourage them to do well in math and science to achieve that dream.
Doing things like marching in unison is just like doing a dance routine.
All that is better than roaming the streets and getting into mischief or parking in front of the TV after school.
I find nothing wrong with the rifles either. IMO, it's just overly PC people finding fault. Aren't there drill teams/twirlers that use rifles during half-time at football games? Sorry, but the Disney channel made a movie about going to a military school and joining the drill team. Last time I checked, the Disney channel didn't go around inciting violence.
If it's a voluntary organization, what's the big deal? So they wear their uniforms once a week. Well, so do the Cub Scouts. I don't know if there is a cost involved, aside from the uniform, but it may be the cheapest activity opportunity that some kids have. Dance, art classes, sports teams, and so on can be really costly, especially in cities, so JROTC groups may be the best option.
Learning discipline, respect, and citizenship, with a little history (granted it's military) isn't a bad thing. Neither are field trips, which would be cheap, since bases aren't exactly admission fee attractions. What 's wrong with inspiring a kid to be an aviator? It would encourage them to do well in math and science to achieve that dream.
Doing things like marching in unison is just like doing a dance routine.
All that is better than roaming the streets and getting into mischief or parking in front of the TV after school.
I find nothing wrong with the rifles either. IMO, it's just overly PC people finding fault. Aren't there drill teams/twirlers that use rifles during half-time at football games? Sorry, but the Disney channel made a movie about going to a military school and joining the drill team. Last time I checked, the Disney channel didn't go around inciting violence.
QUOTE (momsapilot @ Jun 4 2005, 03:53 PM)
I went to the JROTC ball when I was in HS. Trust me, I would not want those guys defending my country, LOL! And I don't know that any of them entered into service once they graduated. (It wasn't my school, but I had friends at a neighboring school who were involved in it.)
If it's a voluntary organization, what's the big deal? So they wear their uniforms once a week. Well, so do the Cub Scouts. I don't know if there is a cost involved, aside from the uniform, but it may be the cheapest activity opportunity that some kids have. Dance, art classes, sports teams, and so on can be really costly, especially in cities, so JROTC groups may be the best option.
Learning discipline, respect, and citizenship, with a little history (granted it's military) isn't a bad thing. Neither are field trips, which would be cheap, since bases aren't exactly admission fee attractions. What 's wrong with inspiring a kid to be an aviator? It would encourage them to do well in math and science to achieve that dream.
Doing things like marching in unison is just like doing a dance routine.
All that is better than roaming the streets and getting into mischief or parking in front of the TV after school.
I find nothing wrong with the rifles either. IMO, it's just overly PC people finding fault. Aren't there drill teams/twirlers that use rifles during half-time at football games? Sorry, but the Disney channel made a movie about going to a military school and joining the drill team. Last time I checked, the Disney channel didn't go around inciting violence.
If it's a voluntary organization, what's the big deal? So they wear their uniforms once a week. Well, so do the Cub Scouts. I don't know if there is a cost involved, aside from the uniform, but it may be the cheapest activity opportunity that some kids have. Dance, art classes, sports teams, and so on can be really costly, especially in cities, so JROTC groups may be the best option.
Learning discipline, respect, and citizenship, with a little history (granted it's military) isn't a bad thing. Neither are field trips, which would be cheap, since bases aren't exactly admission fee attractions. What 's wrong with inspiring a kid to be an aviator? It would encourage them to do well in math and science to achieve that dream.
Doing things like marching in unison is just like doing a dance routine.
All that is better than roaming the streets and getting into mischief or parking in front of the TV after school.
I find nothing wrong with the rifles either. IMO, it's just overly PC people finding fault. Aren't there drill teams/twirlers that use rifles during half-time at football games? Sorry, but the Disney channel made a movie about going to a military school and joining the drill team. Last time I checked, the Disney channel didn't go around inciting violence.
I'm not sure when you graduated, but in these times I think that it is a bit more than 'PC peope finding fault'.
Today our so called leaders have outlined a perpetual war, not a 'Cold War', but a global 'Hot War'; a war where we will use our military, preventatively. This is a different situation than when you and I grew up.
I find this kind of militarization of our children unacceptable.
QUOTE (Romulus @ Jun 4 2005, 10:01 PM)
X2
And I graduated in 93, so I'm not THAT old!
QUOTE
People have picked over Michael Moore and Farenhiet 9/11 ever since it came out. At least Moore is an honest individual and sticks up for what is right. Thats more than I can say for the current administration.
QUOTE (tattoomeb @ Jun 6 2005, 09:11 AM)
QUOTE
People have picked over Michael Moore and Farenhiet 9/11 ever since it came out. At least Moore is an honest individual and sticks up for what is right. Thats more than I can say for the current administration.
You ever see Bowling for Columbine?
Bowling for Columbine
Yeah he's a real honest man.
Those military recruiters are tricky, at 1 school I taught at they would purposly drive through the disadvantaged neighboorhoods with Lexuses and hummers, telling these kids they could get one of these too if they join, then they would take these kids out for the day and before you know there name is on the dotted line. They also picked them up after school in these things.
I wonder if they ever mentioned anything like being shot at to these kids or by the way I only make 7 dollars an hour to put my life on the line, and this isn't my hummer.
I wonder if they ever mentioned anything like being shot at to these kids or by the way I only make 7 dollars an hour to put my life on the line, and this isn't my hummer.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/190144.asp?cp1=1
As far as James Nichols and those boys are concerned they gave the interviews. They were there on film if something was being done or said they didn't agree with at the time they should have spoke up, IMO. I am not trying to say Moore is a flawless individual. I'm sure he like anyone else is capable of using decietful tactics to get his point across. But his decietful tactics haven't killed 1,600 plus American men and women. Not to mention tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis.
I would also rather get my news from national sources. But they certainly don't report all the news and it is nice to get some different points of view. His site is just the only place I found discussing this particular topic. He isn't the one that wrote the article.
QUOTE
Bin Laden comes home to roost
His CIA ties are only the beginning of a woeful story
By Michael Moran
MSNBC
NEW YORK, Aug. 24, 1998 — At the CIA, it happens often enough to have a code name: Blowback. Simply defined, this is the term that describes an agent, an operative or an operation that has turned on its creators. Osama bin Laden, our new public enemy Number 1, is the personification of blowback. And the fact that he is viewed as a hero by millions in the Islamic world proves again the old adage: Reap what you sow.
His CIA ties are only the beginning of a woeful story
By Michael Moran
MSNBC
NEW YORK, Aug. 24, 1998 — At the CIA, it happens often enough to have a code name: Blowback. Simply defined, this is the term that describes an agent, an operative or an operation that has turned on its creators. Osama bin Laden, our new public enemy Number 1, is the personification of blowback. And the fact that he is viewed as a hero by millions in the Islamic world proves again the old adage: Reap what you sow.
QUOTE
Even Hatch can’t be blamed completely. The CIA, ever mindful of the need to justify its “mission,” had conclusive evidence by the mid-1980s of the deepening crisis of infrastructure within the Soviet Union. The CIA, as its deputy director Robert Gates acknowledged under congressional questioning in 1992, had decided to keep that evidence from President Reagan and his top advisors and instead continued to grossly exaggerate Soviet military and technological capabilities in its annual “Soviet Military Power” report right up to 1990.
Given that context, a decision was made to provide America’s potential enemies with the arms, money - and most importantly - the knowledge of how to run a war of attrition violent and well-organized enough to humble a superpower.
That decision is coming home to roost.
Given that context, a decision was made to provide America’s potential enemies with the arms, money - and most importantly - the knowledge of how to run a war of attrition violent and well-organized enough to humble a superpower.
That decision is coming home to roost.
As far as James Nichols and those boys are concerned they gave the interviews. They were there on film if something was being done or said they didn't agree with at the time they should have spoke up, IMO. I am not trying to say Moore is a flawless individual. I'm sure he like anyone else is capable of using decietful tactics to get his point across. But his decietful tactics haven't killed 1,600 plus American men and women. Not to mention tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis.
I would also rather get my news from national sources. But they certainly don't report all the news and it is nice to get some different points of view. His site is just the only place I found discussing this particular topic. He isn't the one that wrote the article.
Michael Moore honest? 
I agree with Moms. Libs wanna let people teach middle schoolers about how to have sex but not let any military activities take place. Let's let the parents and kids decide if the kids should join such activities, just like baseball or band. It is the military that makes it possible for all of us to enjoy our freedoms.
However, any recruiter that is using illegal, deceptive, or dishonest tactics should be pounding rocks for a long time. They must embody the military code of honor.
I agree with Moms. Libs wanna let people teach middle schoolers about how to have sex but not let any military activities take place. Let's let the parents and kids decide if the kids should join such activities, just like baseball or band. It is the military that makes it possible for all of us to enjoy our freedoms.
However, any recruiter that is using illegal, deceptive, or dishonest tactics should be pounding rocks for a long time. They must embody the military code of honor.
I feel sorry for recruiters. They have quotas to meet, just like most jobs. Unfortunately, they are selling a product in which not many are interested. I was hounded by an AF guy when I was in HS because I carried a high GPA and my ASVAB scores rocked. However, he never tried to make me outlandish offers. Of course, maybe with my grades he knew I wasn't dumb enough to fall for it. Now if I'd had 20/20 and he was offering me flight school..........alas, all he could say was, "The AF needs pharmacists, too."
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