Should Military Recruiters be Banned from High Schools and Colleges?

I say definitely yes, personally. I think that they are down right predatory in the way that they go about getting recruits. The only way I got them to go away from me last year was when I told them that I was going to college to study econ and finance and I didn't need their stinking money either.

general. For instance, recruiters came to my work place over the summer when I and a bunch of early 20-somethings were working. I personally think they had no right to do that.

Besides, the primary place I seem to see them is in high schools. It may be different in other parts of the country, but here it is in the high schools.

BUT, and this is a big ass but, IF a college or highschool administration decides they don't WANT military recruiters then military recruiters should not be allowed to force their way onto campus using threats of witholding government money.

That's a lot more equitable and progressive than "bans".

Could you enlighten me on that point?

Let's ban this and ban that and ban same sex marriage and ban convicts from voting and ban abortions and ban women from the church, etc.,

Banning is not a demonstration of exercise of choice.

Bans are for authoritarian types, and I personally don't think that authoritarianism mixes well with progressive ideals.

most high school kids are not old enough to vote ...

i don't like the idea of military recruiters, armed with propaganda, marketing their wares to under-age kids ...

children should not be confronted with issues like life and death, peace and war, and the morality or immorality of their government's use of the military ...

i say BAN them from the high schools and keep their predatory practices away from kids ... kids should not be brainwashed and sales-pitched by their own government ...

if parents want to bring their high school kids to recruiting centers to obtain information, that's fine with me ...

as for colleges, i would like to see the issue left up to the student body ... college administrators have their hands out for federal funds and have a vested self-interest in going along with the government's PR ... i'd say let the students decide ...

While the military ultimately is about combat, a peacetime army provides jobs, work experience, and a means to get an education that many people in highschool right now today have no hope of ever acquiring.

No we should not be recruiting children to fight our illegal wars, but the military is an honorable alternative when only one kid gets the family farm and there are no other jobs to be had, or when there is no chance that a kid can get into college or escape the cycle of poverty.

I still think that the local school board should make those decisions, regardless -- it just seems a lot more democratic and a lot less dictatorial. I also think that what can be pitched by a military recruiter on school property to impressionable underage kids has to be evaluated as well and MUST be done in the presence of adults.

You can't just say everyone you're going to recruit is going to be an enlisted officer or pilot or boat captain because that's not reality, and you really don't want to have a recruiter spewing what he thinks some kid wants to hear to seduce him into the military without explaining the warts of it too.

All bans are not the same. I really don't follow your logic here at all, I'm sorry.

you are correct, not all bans are the same. I automatically question when I hear one of us use the word "ban" in a sentence, instead of automatically assume the best intentions. "Providing for the common defense" is different than "make no law governing religion" when it comes to splitting hairs about "banning" organizations from recruiting at school.

Still my point is actually that the military isn't all evil and brainwashing, and local communities should decide for themselves if they care to have military recruiters in their schools, not someone in a galaxy far far away (guess which movie I rented this weekend).

Anyway, my logic is perfect and unassailable, and I am unanimous in this. My ability to convey it, however, may need some work. ;)

such as the Central Committee for Conscientious Objection or Leave My Child Alone, I have no problem.

But the military recruiters by themselves, no fucking way.

Let the students see as many sides to the arguments before deciding.

www.objector.org

www.leavemychildalone.org

As it is they are worse than used car salesmen when it comes to telling the truth about what a military career truly involves.

If they did not continually harass potential recruits with constant follow-up calls, mailers and asking for other potential recruitees names I may answer differently.

I just found out that the Marines were leading the local high school football team's fall training. The local school also has mouse pads, calendars and the chemical tables with their logo located in many of the classrooms. What other companies, or organizations have this much access to direct marketing to the kids?

on the RW, Fundie, rich private college campus' or to make a presentation to the "Young Republicans" groups? ;)

Those seem to be where all the neo-con chicken hawks flock and send their kids so since they're so greedy & pro-war I think we should give them "dibs" and encourage their kids fight and die for it. ::sigh:: not that I'd truly want their kids to die anymore then our own but maybe if it was going to be their backside or their kids backside over there being blown up, maimed for life, etc they'd be a lot less likely to get us into such horrendous messes.

I really don't like the idea of threatening to withhold funds, but banning is not good. If the school wants to prohibit on campus recruiting, they should be able to without penalty.

Military careers are not a bad thing. I have friends who have gone one to be doctors, lawyers and successful people after going to the military after high school. The military is not a bad thing. Bush is a bad thing using the military the way he does.

For people and regions.

No, I don't like some of the crap that's going on now, especially with recruiting. But, long term, a total ban makes no sense.

For every recruiter at high schools in West Va, they should be required to recruit at Groton, Andover, Choate, etc.

A friend of mine who works with marines at Quantico says they're very much against the war and confirm it's a fuck-up.

Civilian control over the military rests on all members of society being a part of the military. When the military is not part of the society it is to protect, the military will eventually become a threat to that society.

kids too.

Make women register for the draft.

organization that can claim with some degree of legitimacy that they are offering a career choice to students. The rules should not be stacked to give military recruiters any more access than a Graduate School program, or a law firm, or the Foreign Service for that matter. I remember attending a career day once with someone who was recruiting for the State Department. If WalMart is allowed to show up for a career day, then the Marines can also the way I see it. But if Ben and Jerry's can't get a students home phone number or run a club in the High School, then the military shouldn't either. Same rules, across the board.

They should not be penalized by the Government if they choose not to allow recruiters on campus.

Many High Schools might not allow them. A college might want to "ban" recruiters as a gesture--why not? But college students should be able to make their own decisions. Under different administrations, military service could be a useful way to spend a few years--or make an honorable career.

Someone needs to let our youth know that recruiters often lie. Attending a recruiter-free school does not guarantee a student will never meet one.

By now, I am hoping that just ONE MORE repuke asshole says that to me, because they can't deny that BUSH has done more to gut, ruin, and deplete the military than Clinton ever did.