A Student
Perspective on JROTC
JROTC must go now!
San Francisco made history in November 2006 when the school board voted to
make this the first big city in the nation to ban JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer
Training Corps), one of the military’s prime recruiting tools, by next month.
Unfortunately, the board – except for Mark Sanchez and Eric Mar – reversed
itself, extending JROTC. In another vote this June, two progressives on the
board – Kim-Shree Maufus and Green Party member Jane Kim – are critical to send
the military packing.
An open letter to Jane Kim and Kim-Shree Maufas:
My name is Mara Kubrin. I am a graduate of Lowell High School in San
Francisco. Last school year I presented the student petition to the school board
in support of the resolution to phase out JROTC in the San Francisco Unified
School District. I was thrilled when the resolution passed; I had made one final
contribution before heading off to college. Unfortunately, my impression did not
last. The same issue has resurfaced just in time for me to come home and urge—no
demand— that you finish what I thought we had already finished last year. JROTC
must go now.
To me the issue seems so clear that I have trouble understanding your
hesitation. San Franciscans have voted to prohibit recruitment in our schools.
Case should be closed, but I will continue. The anti-JROTC coalition has many
concrete reasons, any of which is grounds to immediately pull JROTC out of the
schools. Let me re-state them.
The SFUSD has an anti-discrimination hiring policy. In order to be a JROTC
instructor, one must have served in the military. In order to successfully serve
in the military, one may not be openly homosexual. Therefore, in order to be an
SFUSD JROTC teacher, one may not be openly gay. Strike one.
State law requires that Physical Education credit only be given by properly
credentialed teachers. JROTC instructors do not have these credentials, yet
students get credit. Strike two.
International law prohibits the military from trying to recruit anyone under
the age of 17. Most JROTC students are well under the age of 17. Strike three.
JROTC should have been outa here a long time ago based on any one of those
reasons.
So why is JROTC still here? I have listened to supporters and I will admit
that many students like JROTC. However, if schools offered a class on video
games, kids would also love it. Students would rush to sign up for a class on
celebrity gossip. Have we forgotten that sometimes kids are not the ones to make
these decisions? The school board is here to determine the best curriculum for
students.
Despite students’ enjoyment, this “class” is not beneficial to them. What are
we trying to teach here? We are cutting music and arts, but somehow we think
that learning how to salute is a good use of educational time? Others argue that
JROTC provides discipline and leadership, that it turns kids around in ways
other programs can’t. In my mind, any extra-curricular activity that requires
attendance and focus, and encourages growth and maturity, will do the exact same
thing. There are plenty of available sports leagues, leadership groups,
community service organizations, and clubs available to high school students.
They do not need one that is explicitly a military recruitment device.
Politicians are afraid of openly opposing JROTC because of the visible
student support for the program. The support is more clearly visible than the
opposition because the “support” is bused in to meetings, while the opposition
has been intimidated and physically threatened, myself included. Clearly, the
cadets’ discipline and leadership only go so far.
So here is my suggestion: JROTC can stay in San Francisco but not on school
campuses. JROTC is a recruitment tool, so have the program at recruitment
centers. If students are so insistent that this and only this program will
provide the discipline, leadership, and family element that they want, then they
can seek it out in their own time, using the military’s own funding, and on its
own recruitment grounds. The military does not belong in our schools simply
based on an understanding of what is right and what is wrong, let alone the
legal evidence. Vote to make it happen. Be the progressive you claim to be. Kick
JROTC out of our schools once and for all.
Thank you,
Mara Kubrin
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