CounterPunch: Beyond Opt-Out

SFUSD, and the sitting BOE, have been very receptive to the counter recruiting efforts. They do what they can to alert parents of their right to opt-out of sharing contact information with military recruiters. They have been receptive to anti-war efforts, including a controversial teach-in during the run-up to the Iraq war. So I found this article from CounterPunch quite interesting: Rick Jahnkow: Beyond Opt-Out

The lesson here is that while opting out is worth pursuing as a tactical issue, an approach to countering recruitment that focuses mostly on saving individual students is an energy-intensive one that will perpetually miss most young people because the involvement of the military in schools is too widespread and is not being adequately challenged institutionally. Also open to question is whether or not parents and others will end their involvement in the cause once their own kids graduate, or the U.S. withdraws from Iraq. This is what happened with many activists after Vietnam.

I'm not so sure that the opt-out effort is just a tactical effort. Parental resistance to recruiting efforts is having a marked effect on the war effort. Yes, it plays upon the parochial concerns of a parent for their child. But that is powerful and effective. Still, the article makes many good points about the limits of opt-out, the other ways recruiters get contact info, and the many ways that the military has insinuated itself into our schools.

That said, my personal views are a bit different. Counter recruitment is essentially a pacifist's approach. At some level I think it is a divisive and polarizing approach to the problem. If we accept the need for any military institutions in our democracy, its important that they reflect all the people. And the only way I can see that happening is if we accept some form of conscripted national service.

But I know that's just my (minority) point of view.