Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Veterans offer debate, not jobs

Any teenager looking to join the U.S. military deserves straight answers in a time of war, but it doesn't follow that high schools should open their campuses to peace activist groups. In Pinellas, Veterans for Peace is invoking freedom of speech when what is really at issue is career choice. The military offers one, and the peace group doesn't.

"The School Board has determined that military recruiters may enter schools to discuss military matters with the students," says Veterans for Peace member Dwight Lawton. "We, therefore, should not be denied access to students to discuss military matters simply because the School Board or school administration may disagree with our views on the subject."

Lawton may be right that some board members disagree with his views, but the reality is that military recruiters are allowed, under federal law, to set up in high schools that open their doors to job recruiters. Veterans For Peace does not recruit for jobs. In fact, an attorney working with the group described the role in an e-mail as "counter military recruiters."

Teachers and guidance counselors are supposed to help students receive accurate information about career endeavors, and schools invite mischief if they cede that role to activists. The increasingly belligerent tone of the veterans group suggests it may be as interested in a lawsuit as it is in giving students balanced information about military careers.

"They (veterans) really want to impart a political message," says School Board attorney Jim Robinson. "To me, it shouldn't be a political issue. It ought to be a career issue."

The merits of war and the role of military recruiters make for great debate topics in high school classrooms, and activists might play a constructive role in such educational discourse. But Veterans for Peace is pretending to be a job recruiter, and School Board members would be wise to keep their distance.

[Last modified April 24, 2006, 01:40:15]