Military Recruiting on Campus
Here’s an interesting item from Seattle (one of my favorite cities on the planet): “Protest briefly halts School Board meeting” and here’s some video of the protest from KING TV news. It’s interesting that the students appear to be protesting military recruitment on campus solely because the United States is currently engaged in an unpopular military campaign in Iraq and that any graduate recruited would be sent to certain death? Are the protesters attempting to make a statement in favor of students’ futures or are they using expedient means to merely protest the war in Iraq? Would they be so vocal were we living in peace-time? If military recruiters aren’t allowed on campus, should college recruiters still be allowed to speak with students about their futures on school property? The answer, most likely, would be, “Don’t be ridiculous. Mr. Girard. Of course college recruiters should still be allowed on campus”. Would that mean then that college is always the only and best option for high school graduates under all conditions. Not all would assent to that idea, (see “College for All?”), and some would view it as elitist.
The issues and the answers are not so clear cut, and ideas can never be divorced from people. It’s one thing, as an academic and civic exercise perhaps, to engage in a protest and practice our Constitutional guarantees and flex our democratic muscle, but it’s important to keep in mind that real people are at the center of the debate so it doesn’t devolve into crass showboating by uniformed ideologues. It’s an issue that is particulary close to me because a former student, Pvt. Damian Lopez, was killed in an IED explosion in Baghdad on Good Friday of this year. Damian was my student in sophomore English, and he was tough, stubborn, and good. He didn’t take the college option.
What think you? Are the protesters’ arguments sound? Should military recruiters be allowed on campus? Is college the best option for all? Leave a comment by clicking the link above.