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Will the Army be teaching YOU its "values"?
Your action is needed!
Recently discovered is a letter dated November 2003 from State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster to all District Administrators
in Wisconsin, urging them to "partner with our armed forces to ensure students stay in school and explore all available career
options", utilize the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) as a "career exploration tool for students in planning
their future", and encourage "integrating (a program addressing the history of the U.S. Army and/or a character development
program based on Army values) into instructional programs or other activities at your school." Please see http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/esea/pdf/1103army.pdf
for the complete letter.
The vast majority of members of the armed forces are neither trained nor certified to be educators, counselors, or social
service professionals. The personnel designated to implement these programs are local army recruiters, whose primary goal
is to channel young people into the military, and the purpose of the ASVAB, according to the Department of Defense (DoD) is
as "a battery of tests used by DoD to determine enlistment eligibility and qualifications for military occupations", not to
help students choose civilian careers. According to former Secretary of Defense Cheney, "the reason to have a military is
to be prepared to fight and win wars...it is not a social welfare agency...it's not a jobs program."
With this purpose so clearly spelled out, can we assume that the military truly is capable of being non-partisan and acting
with the best interests of our students in mind? We don't allow corporations or other entities that stand to make a profit
from the career or life choices of our children to dictate the curriculum in our schools. Why would we want to allow military
salespeople (otherwise known as recruiters) the chance to direct the content of our sons' and daughters' education and/or
path in life?
Please contact State Superintendent Burmaster, Governor Doyle, and your local district administrator, school board, or principal
to register your opposition to this blatant attempt to militarize our schools and young people. Don't forget to send letters
to the editor of your local newspaper, too!
State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster
PO Box 7841,
Madison, WI 53707-7841
(608) 266-3390 or (800) 441-4563
state.superintendent@dpi.state.wi.us
Governor Jim Doyle
115 East State Capitol,
Madison, WI 53702
(608) 266-1212
http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/contact.asp
Find your local school information on the Department of Public Instruction's website: http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/cgi-bin/schldist.cgi
Written by Michelle Nightoak
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