Slap!

Here’s something I didn’t know: the No Child Left Behind Act requires that schools turn over student rosters to military recruiters in order to receive federal funding. I don’t know how I missed that, but it just floors me that our current regime has the balls to legislate this kind of privacy invasion, especially in the name of snapping up young people in order to turn them into military drones. Then again, why does anything the Bushies do surprise me?  They are all about war and invasion and stirring up shit in order to keep the bombers busy and the public feeling “safe.”

Anyway, a high school here in Seattle has just barred recruiters from school grounds, which is a wonderful slap in the face of military vultures which are circling our schools in increasing numbers.  Bush is handing billions of dollars over for wars while many of our schools are scrambling to find enough money just to stay open.  They ought to rename it the No Potential Future Soldier Left Behind Act.  Anyway, can’t they at least wait until these kids get out of high school?  What’s next, signing grade-schoolers up for the Navy?  Don’t think it isn’t coming.

While most Parent Teacher Student Association meetings might center on finding funding for better math books or the best way to chaperon a school dance, a recent meeting here at Garfield High School grappled with something much larger – the war in Iraq.

The school is perhaps one of the first in the nation to debate and vote against military recruiting on high school campuses – a topic already simmering at the college level. In fact, the Supreme Court recently agreed to decide whether the federal government can withhold funds from colleges that bar military recruiters.

High schools are struggling with a similar issue as the No Child Left Behind Act requires that schools receiving federal funding must release the names of its students to recruiters. Some feel that’s an invasion of privacy prompted by a war effort that has largely divided the American public. Others say barring recruiters is an infringement of free speech – and a snub to the military, particularly in a time of war.