Military is nothing short of honorable.

Byline: Scott Tomlinson For The Register-Guard

Ladies and gentlemen, you have been lied to in the name of your personal rights. The June 10 guest viewpoint, "Schools must create policy on military," is an example of how some people will let their personal beliefs blind them to their responsibility to educate our children without bias.

I am willing to ignore the rhetoric of bigotry that is common in this kind of column. I can even ignore the writers' having insulted members of the military by calling them "victims," "naive" and "confused." But one of the three authors of this guest viewpoint, Pete Mandrapa, is a teacher in the Eugene School District. A man who is entrusted with educating young minds should never misrepresent the facts or fail to research the statistics with which he supports his points. But that is what happened.

Misrepresentation No. 1: The authors claim that the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 is a means for the government to seek "an advantage over college recruiters and others providing viable choices for graduating high school students."

Seeking an unfair advantage? Here's Section 9528 (a) (3) of the act: "Each local educational agency receiving assistance under this act shall provide military recruiters the same access to secondary school students as is provided generally to post secondary educational institutions or to prospective employers of those students." Wow. I guess "same access" means "an advantage" in these people's book.

Misrepresentation No 2: Mandrapa and his co-authors go on to claim that "Those most at risk of falling for the sales pitch are students from poor families ... ethnic minority groups ... and students that are not academically oriented," and that "young people of color were heavily over-represented in the fighting units and ... those killed and wounded in Iraq."

Aside from being insulting to those of every race who have joined the military, it is simply not true. From the Department of Defense accounting of casualties in Operation Iraqi Freedom, 60.1 percent were white, 16.5 percent were black and 17.2 percent were Hispanic. The 2000 U.S. Census shows that the country is 69.1 percent white, 12.3 percent black and 12.5 percent Hispanic. Does that sound "heavily over-represented" to you?

Misrepresentation No. 3: Mandrapa and his co-authors, in their opening paragraph, tell you that your children's information is being turned over "without your knowledge." Check your newsletters. Check the mailing you received at the beginning of the year. If you have a high school student in the Eugene School District, you have been told this many times. If you didn't know, read what your kid brings home. If you don't want your child to be contacted, just tell the military. They will immediately take your child off of the list. It's amazing that an educator doesn't know what's in the school newsletters.

Misrepresentation No. 4: The military is for those who are "poor" or "not academically oriented."

Really. My family made $250,000 per year. I was a National Merit Scholar. The Marine Corps is putting the Marine wife of one of the Marine recruiters in Eugene through college right now. The Marines have to recruit at least 63 percent of their people from the top mental category. All must be high school grads with diplomas.

Not academically oriented? Poor? This is an unsubstantiated, insulting smear. The military is no good for those who join? Look up Dr. Harvey Moloch in the leading academic sociology journals. Try Hans Wetzel's research, a student who set out to prove the military is harmful. This is actual research, not just opinion. The military is a social stepping stone for young people to a better life, and it is honorable service for any who join.

So Mandrapa and his co-writers want to insult the military? No problem. That's their right as Americans. They want to put out false or unresearched information? That's OK, I guess, if they want to - but not if they're in charge of educating Eugene's young men and women. This kind of hatemongering against people who have chosen to serve their country should not be allowed by a teacher in good standing. Is this what we can expect of our educators? Unsubstantiated and false assertions? Bigotry?

I know better. Eugene is a fine district. This is just a bad apple. Don't let it spoil the barrel!

Scott Tomlinson of Portland is a member of the U.S. Marine Corps. He submitted this column as a private citizen, not as a representative of the armed forces.