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to Campaign information
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WHY
ARE STUDENTS BEING TAUGHT TO SHOOT
WEAPONS
IN SAN DIEGO HIGH SCHOOLS?
Why are students being misled about military science courses and placed in them without informed consent?
Why are high schools tracking students into the military instead of offering adequate educational alternatives?
Facts:
· Military science courses (i.e., JROTC) are now taught in most
San Diego City high schools. They are not required to include weapons
training, yet many of them have high-powered pellet gun ranges on school
grounds. This is despite the school district's zero-tolerance weapons
policy and community efforts to teach young people NOT to use weapons.
· Some students have been placed in military science courses without
their or their parents' informed consent, violating Calif. Education Code
sec. 51750.
· To get the minimum number of students required for JROTC, some
school staff are incorrectly telling students that military science will
help them qualify for college. Six students at one local high school,
for example, were persuaded to drop AVID classes in order to take JROTC.
In fact, JROTC credits do NOT count toward meeting admission requirements
for Calif. colleges and universities, while AVID is specifically designed
to help get underrepresented students into college.
· In some schools, students are being denied adequate academic
electives-like advance placement, honors, AVID and A-G courses-while being
steered toward JROTC. This amounts to tracking students into the military
since, despite denials by JROTC, the Dept. of Defense has testified to
Congress that it is a highly effective military recruiting program.
We are a coalition of parents, students, teachers and community activists
who want San Diego Unified to eliminate weapons training from its military
science courses, just as Chicago schools did several years ago. We also
want the district to comply with state law and stop placing students in
military science courses without consent from students and parents. We
want students and parents to be correctly informed that JROTC does not
satisfy any college admission requirements, and we want students to have
adequate alternatives that actually can help them get into college.
For more information, contact Education Not Arms Coalition,
c/o UJIMA Institute for Civic Responsibility, P.O. Box 12204, La Jolla,
CA 92039-2204, email UJIMA Institute.
Download
this flier in PDF file format (English and Spanish)
Download petition for San Diego School Board (English and Spanish)
The Militarization of Our Youth: They're Targeting You, a PowerPoint slide show, created by ninth grade students at Lincoln H.S. in San Diego (2.9 MB)
Coalition rebuttal to claims made by JROTC and school district personnel, May 27, 2008
April 22, 2008 school board meeting audio:
Part 1--Board member de Beck makes proposal re. JROTC (MP3, 9.6 MB)
Part 2--Community testifies (MP3, 18.9 MB)
Part 3--Mission Bay HS Principal Seelos is allowed extra time to speak after agenda item was supposedly closed. (MP3, 10.6 MB)
April 22, 2008 photos: School board meeting and large protest
March 26, 2008 student walk-out at Mission Bay High Walk-out organized by students to support peace walk by Guerrero Azteca Project for Peace and protest military recruiting and JROTC
March 11, 2008 school board meeting audio: Testimony by Lincoln and Mission Bay high school students and a parent asking the board to remove weapons ranges from schools and stop tracking students into JROTC (mp3, 8.5 mins.)
March 11, 2008 photos: Protest at San Diego Unified School Board Meeting
Feb. 12, 2008: Video of school board meeting testimony
Feb. 12, 2008 photos: Protest at San Diego Unified School Board Meeting
A Cool Elective You Can't Get Out Of, San Diego Weekly Reader, June 4, 2008
Scheduling of Military-Linked Classes Spurs Debate, Voice of San Diego, May 2, 2008
Students Say They're Getting Placed into Junior ROTC Against Their Will, Kpbs Radio, April 28, 2008
San Diego School Boards Allow Air-Rifle Training to Continue, KPBS Radio, April 24, 2008. San Diego Unified’s JROTC air-rifle training program will continue to take place at local high schools despite mounting community pressure to end the practice.
School Trustees Hear Protest Over Weapons Training, Ch. 10 TV, April 22, 2008
Mission Bay High School Students Protest ROTC Program, KPBS Radio, March 26, 2008. Student was placed in JROTC not by choice.
Struggle Heats up in San Diego Schools Over Military Training Programs, Draft NOtices article, Jan.-March 2008.
Parents Mounting Campaign to End ROTC Program, KPBS Radio, Jan. 14, 2008
Debate Rages Over JROTC Program At Mission Bay High, Ch. 10 TV, Aug. 23, 2007 Note: The principal falsely states on camera that students are only enrolled in JROTC if they request it, and she overstates the value of the course in gaining college acceptance (JROTC credits do not count toward meeting admission requirements).
'Students First In Line' Program To Offer Job Training At Needy Schools, video, The Onion. The logical extension of military training in schools (satire).
Pols stunned shooting range operating at high school, Boston Herald, Jan. 5, 2008
Chicago Schools End Riflery Program, AP Nov. 9, 1999
California Education Code, section 51750 (military science)
Cal Grant eligibility standard excludes JROTC grades (page 2)
The Recruiting Function of JROTC, excerpts from official documents and Congressional reports
