Should the military recruit in high schools?

NEWS FACT:

Since the Iraq war began, some parents across the United States have protested the presence of military recruiters at high schools. Last November, voters in San Francisco, California, passed the "College Not Combat" measure. It encourages schools to offer the same types of benefits--including scholarships and job training--that the military offers.

Military recruiters routinely visit schools to discuss careers in the armed forces. They hold demonstrations and hand out gifts from T-shirts to doughnuts. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 states that all public schools receiving government funds must give the military access to students' personal information, including home phone numbers. Schools that do not comply can lose federal funding.

Some parents and high schools say that recruiters make the military seem too much like an adventure, and are not honest enough about its dangers. Parents do have the legal right to keep the military from contacting their children. But not all schools make parents aware of that right. Also, schools sometimes require kids to attend military recruitment programs.

What do you think? Should the military be allowed to recruit in high schools?

Yes

The U.S. military has been stretched dangerously thin by the American involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Plus, the military has a lot to offer: good pay, money for college, and the chance to see the world.

Elizabeth Kennedy, II, from the Emerson School in Emerson, New Jersey, sees recruiters' visits to schools as a positive. "It's no different from having a friendly career talk," says the fifth-grader. "[It's] just like a lawyer coming in, or a doctor."

Rhiannon Tomtishen, a fifth-grader at Emerson, agrees. But, says Rhiannon, 10, "I think the military should make sure kids know exactly what they are in for."

No

Alex Kronman, a fifth-grader at the Foote School in New Haven, Connecticut, believes that high school students are too young to understand the consequences of their decision. "lf people are not allowed to drink alcohol until the age of 21, they should not be able to make a decision that could cost them their lives until at least that age," says Alex, 10.

Sarah Haddad, 10, also a student at the Foote School, agrees that high school students are too young to be risking their lives. "They can help their country in a different way" than the military, she says. "Also, they could go into the military when they are older."