KICK THE MILITARY OUT OF YOUR SCHOOL! WE DID IT IN L.A. AND SO CAN YOU!

The Coalition Against Militarism in our Schools (CAMS), comprised of family members and school staff, has a Student Education Campaign that includes information about optout and military recruiting. Students taking the lead in this campaign, along with adult supporters, strategize about how to inform their specific communities.

The efforts of ordinary youth and adults can make a BIG difference in changing the militarism of our schools. How? Let me give some examples from my experience at Theodore Roosevelt High School in East Los Angeles, the school where I teach.

Roosevelt, the second largest high school in the nation, has 5,200 year-round students. It is located in a poor working-class neighborhood of 98% Latin American descent, the majority from Mexico. Roosevelt is known for its traditions, especially its long-standing football rivalry with another East Los Angeles school.

The military has also been a tradition at Roosevelt: the Junior Reserves Officer Training Corp (JROTC) has had a presence on campus since around 1926. Prior to 2003, the school was known as being the number one campus for Marine recruitment, but the efforts of ordinary youth and adults have changed that. How is militarism manifested at Roosevelt? Let us count the ways…

1) On-Campus Military Recruiters
Until 2003, military recruiters in uniform from the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force had free access to the campus. They talked to students between classes, during lunch, and even made classroom presentations. There is a great disparity regarding the presence of recruiters at different schools in the district — from a few times a year at some schools to nearly every day at others. Comparing practices at poor, minority schools to rich, whiter schools shows the existence of a “poverty draft�— the intense recruiting the military does in working-class Latino and African American communities in the inner city. For every college counselor at Roosevelt, there were FIVE military
recruiters. Their purpose is to sell the military by promising college financial aid and other incentives. And unfortunately for many who grow up with video games, heroic images of war, and a family tradition of military service, it’s an easy sell. Thirty-seven percent of first-time enlistees are students 17 and 18 years of age.

Counter-recruitment Actions
In 2003, the Leadership Council of Roosevelt limited the number of times the military recruiters can be on campus to about four times a year. The Council also no longer allows military presentations during class time due to concerns regarding student achievement and
testing. With the approval of the administration, and using the equal access law, which allows public school students to organize clubs, a group of students, teachers, school staff, and community organizations presented “Options for Youth.� Students in the Movimiento
Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA) club as well as school staff
passed out brochures and flyers including “What you should know before you enlist� and talked and listened to whoever was willing. We also had spoken word artists read letters from the soldiers and discuss alternatives.

2) No Child Left Out of the Military
A provision of the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act, Bush’s education bill, requires that school districts release private student directory information (names, addresses, and telephone numbers) or risk losing federal funds. The only way to prevent the military recruiters from getting personal information is for the student or parent to sign
an “opt-out� statement requesting that personal information be withheld from the military.

Counter-recruitment Actions
The Coalition Against Militarism in our Schools (CAMS), comprised of family members and school staff, has a Student Education Campaign that includes information about optout and military recruiting. Students taking the lead in this campaign, along with adult supporters, strategize about how to inform their specific communities. There will be a youth rally, with literature and other resources made available. In addition, we have spoken to the Board of Education and presented a series of suggestions for proactive communication and outreach strategies. We hope the results will be evident this year, and we are working to repeal the No Child Left Behind Act.

3) Junior Reserves Officer Training Corp (JROTC) Classes
The purpose of JROTC is to “facilitate recruiter access to cadets in JROTC program and to the entire student body.� In LAUSD, there are 30 high schools that offer JROTC as a physical education elective at a cost of over $3 million. The 6,000 students enrolled in the JROTC classes come from predominately poor and working-class communities of Latinos and African Americans. At Roosevelt and across the city, students are often involuntarily placed into JROTC because of a lack of physical education electives. Even when students ask to be changed, they remain in JROTC for months. Why? Is it because there are not enough physical education classes to which to transfer them in these overcrowded schools? Why is JROTC expanding nationally, across the district, and at Roosevelt, while other classes have been slashed or received reduced funding?

Counter-recruitment Action
We have signed petitions to ax JROTC programs, presented concerns to the Board of Education, and documented cases on students involuntarily placed into the class and cases in which students have been misinformed about the program. We have distributed literature and facts about the program (see www.militaryfreeschools.org)

4) Military culture
The military has infiltrated our schools in so many subtle ways, including the visible display of military mottos and trophies in the school, the distribution of free items to students (key straps, calendars, pens, mugs, sweatbands, etc.), and MTV-style advertisements endlessly advertising the military on Channel One, a commercial television “station� that many poor schools are required to play in exchange for loans of much-needed equipment such as TVs and VCRs.


Arlene Inouye is co-chair of the Human Rights Committee of United Teachers Los Angeles and coordinator of the Coalition Against Militarism in our Schools (CAMS).

photo courtesy of author. Two young women receiving information about the "poverty draft".

photo courtesy of author. Counter-recruitment in action at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles.