A colleague just pointed out to me that the current Elementary and Secondary Education Act (aka NCLB) allows schools to turn over the names and addresses of students to military recruiters and institutions of higher education.
The same practice is continued in the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Parents of high school students, please note that you may opt your child out if you don’t want them to hear from military recruiters or others. (I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but I hate the name of this new act. Why can’t they just call it the Elementary and Secondary Education Act? Who will be held accountable if every students does NOT succeed?)
From page 847:
‘‘(1) ACCESS TO STUDENT RECRUITING INFOR2
MATION.—Notwithstanding section 444(a)(5)(B) of
3 the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C.
4 1232g(a)(5)(B)), each local educational agency re5
ceiving assistance under this Act shall provide, upon
6 a request made by a military recruiter or an institu7
tion of higher education, access to the name, ad8
dress, and telephone listing of each secondary school
9 student served by the local educational agency, un10
less the parent of such student has submitted the
11 prior consent request under paragraph (2).
12 ‘‘(2) CONSENT.—
13 ‘‘(A) OPT-OUT PROCESS.—A parent of a
14 secondary school student may submit a written
15 request, to the local educational agency, that
16 the student’s name, address, and telephone list17
ing not be released for purposes of paragraph
18 (1) without prior written consent of the parent.
19 Upon receiving such request, the local edu20
cational agency may not release the student’s
21 name, address, and telephone listing for such
22 purposes without the prior written consent of
23 the parent.
24 ‘‘(B) NOTIFICATION
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Terrible that parents have to DISCOVER a need for opting out and the process to do so. There needs to be more coverage and transparency on what information is shared about our students and how FREELY it is being shared. This is how our education has become institutionalized and made into marketable commodity.
I am personally deeply concerned about the emphasis being placed on our media. Obviously we are deeply indebted to all the people who have served in our wars but my belief is that we should be a nation of peace, that our government should NOT be ruled by our generals. I see all the recruitment ads all over the media and the GREAT emphasis on the military and it seems like people wish to know what the generals think, not our secular government.
Gordon,
The government is not ruled by our generals. It’s ruled by billionaires and HUGE corporations.
Here’s a list of the top 25 Defense Contractors.
http://www.businessinsider.com/top-25-us-defense-companies-2012-2?op=1
Note the huge large gaps between revenue and profit at most of the traditional aerospace/defense companies. They’re not exactly grocery-store margins, but it’s not a high profit-margin business either. Which means that, now more than ever, war is a volume business.
I think they lose some of their profits from all the bribes and lobbying that have to pay out.
The militarists in Congress inserted the provision about military recruiters receiving students’ personal, private information so that they can focus on targeting vulnerable youth who are needed for our perpetual wars/occupations. As Dr. King said, we, the People, face a triplet of evils – Racism, Imperialism, and Militarism. More than half of our discretionary income goes to the Pentagon or, as some call it, the War Department. Recruiters should also be curtailed from having access to students as young as 14 and 15 in high school cafeterias.
We can’t forget the fat cats who get rich from the spilled blood of American troops in one Bush War after another—many that were started based on lies. The oil industry benefits from those dead and wounded too.
The U.S. has the largest private sector weapons industry in the world and if you do your homework, you will discover that these for-profit corporations also sell weapons to countries and brutal dictators that are often demonized by our media. Even during and after the 2007-08 global financial collapse, the weapons industry stayed a growth industry and continued to increase profits and sales. In fact, the economic crises probably caused more unrest in the world.
1. United States 31% of global weapons sales
2. Russia 27%
3. China 5%
4. Germany 5%
5. France 5%
6. U.K. 4%
7. Spain 3%
8. Italy 3%
9. Ukraine 3%
10. Israel 2%
Did you know that the United States has 20 aircraft carriers compared to every country in the world that has 17. France is ranked #2 with four. Japan is ranked #3 with two. The newest one, the Gerard R. Ford cost more than $11 billion.
Lloyd,
So all those education critics who fret about US students’ PISA scores can set aside their worries–with 31% of the world’s market for weapons, the dire predictions of being outdone by foreign competitors are moot. And, the majority of workers at those arms firms attended school before NCLB mandated testing or RttT pushed Common Core.
“all those education critics who fret about US students’ PISA scores can set aside their worries–with 31% of the world’s market for weapons, the dire predictions of being outdone by foreign competitors are moot”
I didn’t think about it that way but you are making a good point.
The United States also has another growth industry it holds the #1 spot in, the production of pornography sold to the world.
The United States has 244,662,900 porn pages on the Internet. That’s 89% of the global market. Germany is in second place with a little more than 10 million porn pages.
But, by country, the US only ranks 4th for worldwide pornography revenues. When we look at per capita spending, South Korea is king.
The pornography industry is larger than the revenues of the top technology companies combined: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix and EarthLink
http://www.familysafemedia.com/pornography_statistics.html
Do porn stars and porn producers really need to take a Common Core high stakes test to determine if they are college and career ready?
•The IQ test was invented by and for the U.S. Army.
•The U.S. was labeled “a nation at risk.”
•The U.S. military probably has access to NCLB/ESSA testing psychometric data.
•”No excuse” charter schools train children to perform tasks with regimented discipline, with military precision.
•”This is Sparta!”
I think you are right. The corporate public education demolition derby wants to turn the United States into a Sparta that repeatedly wages wars around the world where the troops bleed and the oligarchs rake in the cash earned off our blood.
“•The U.S. military probably has access to NCLB/ESSA testing psychometric data.”
NO doubt!
Diane, thank you for pointing out this trampling of civil liberties. Lord help us if the military might convince a 17-yr-old or 18-yr-old that volunteering to protect the safety and freedoms of his/her fellow Americans like generations past! They should certainly wait until an 18-yr-old adult is free from his/her parents home before contacting him/her since the parents might actually help the 18-yr-old to think through the pros/cons when they are living under the same roof.
And we certainly don’t want colleges to actually recruit low-income students who might not be aware of how to research universities on their own! If parents have no experience going to college and can’t help their talented children learn about opportunities, TOUGH. Even if those colleges might offer significant aid (my college roommate had a free ride to Harvard because his immigrant parents were poor), we can’t allow colleges to recruit students in high school. Please stop this madness, Diane!!!!!
I have an idea VSP, let’s only have wars we pay for, not put on credit. The top marginal rate in WWII was 90%. Maybe we’ll stop having so many wars when the 1% has to pay their fair, PROGRESSIVE share.
Diane, this is what happens when citizens don’t get an effective education:
1. WWII generated unbelievable debt (highest in our history relative to GDP). It was because we put that war on the credit card that we were able to ramp up so fast.
2. At all times, our transfer payments to the poor (and others) have greatly exceeded the cost of any war since Korea. (more than $1T/yr today)
3. If you agree to limit any transfer payments (SS, Medicare) to only what folks contribute on the tax side, then maybe we could reach a deal.
The 1% pays more both in absolute numbers and rates than anyone else. The fact that folks can’t comprehend compound tax rates means that journalists and politicians can put out propaganda on how “low” their tax rates are. Here’s a summary:
A. Cap gains is at least 15% (keep 0.85x)
B. Corporate tax is at least 25% (keep 0.75x) -> actually 35% but with deductions it drops to about 25%
C. Together, that’s ….. wait for it….. 36.25%!!! which is higher than all other brackets except for the top marginal rate. (See 1 – 0.85 * 0.75 = 0.6375 -> 36.25% from 100%)
There are no “secretaries” paying 36%+. And while this may be arithmetic (as opposed to the algebra needed for AMT), most of you have no clue how to calculate this and therefore get fooled by all the democratic socialists running for office.
Sorry, VSGP
virginia sgp — I understand about cash flow. So if there needs to be some “borrowing” at the outset of a war because income from taxes lags the outflow of ramping up for war — I could go along with that. So, I will give you some front end “credit” — but in return, I want tax rates during war — ANY war — back up where they were in WWII –because cash flow is only one part of the problem. The other part is whether you EVER have enough income coming back in to pay off the debts — it is way more than just a timing issue. And once they are there, I want them to have to stay there until all of the military spending (including funding the future years of VA spending, etc) is repaid.
The Iraq war was a fraud on so many levels it is hard to count. But one objective was clearly to ramp up military spending (without providing any source of income, then or in the future) to repay it — and then to demand (after a decent pause so the press, at least, would forget what jacked the deficits so high) that NO new taxes could be raised, and that domestic programs had to be cut. Then, later — if and when the military programs end, the string pullers at the top end up where they wanted to be all along — decimated domestic programs, AND a lower war budget. They are trying their darnedest to get this done through the sequester process right now — constant clamors to release military spending from sequester, while keeping the screws to domestic programs — but so far, the connection — and the ploy — has been so obvious that they have not succeeded.
Did you really just add capital gains and corporate tax together like that? Laughing. You know that’s not how it works, right?
War hasn’t been declared by Congress since WWII. Just joint resolutions and authorizations of military force. Congress wants to rattle the swords and play soldier with other people’s sons and daughters. But not be held accountable. How many of the Republican or Democrat candidates are veterans? How many in Congress?
Wars need paid for. Either taxes raised or domestic spending cut. It is a stretch to compare WWII to the Iraq war.
Geez, I’ve never seen a guy claimed to be math-techie naively conflating tax-deducted capital gain into pre-tax corporate profit.
VSGP, I can imagine most Asian kids at junior high school are scoffing at you over clumsy manipulation.
Yes, and our Democratic Socialist may know best, he voted against the Iraq War and now says that it should be Arab “boots on the ground”. I won’t argue about how to calculate the tax burden. But, please don’t spread that myth that the richest pay their fair share. We all know that they keep it offshore to avoid paying their fair share. In fact, Mitt Romney bragged about that. During Bush II, they had a corporate tax holiday and it DID NOT CREATE NEW INVESTMENT HERE, IT WAS USED MOSTLY TO PAY DIVIDENDS. And, what does “fair” mean here? If corporations and rich people have more to lose, they have more need for our military’s protection. Do insurance companies charge the same amount to cover a mansion as a hovel? As a navy retiree, you should be interested in this. I saw a quote from a CEO in an article on off-shoring in Time Magazine. The CEO admitted that the corporations only need US protection at sea and the use of our legal system. When will we ask all the companies bringing in the “Made in China” goods to pay for their own security costs? Why should Apple be able to use US courts to sue Samsung? Let them seek justice in China. The saying used to be, “What is good for General Motors is good for America”. If corporations have no allegiance to the USA, why should they have the rights of citizens?
In fact, that amounts that corporations and wealthy individuals have off-shored tax-free could, if taxed, provide the median salary ($36,000) for every one of the 8 million unemployed Americans.
Reuters did an estimate several years ago that $31 TRILLION from the global economy was hidden in shelters. By now, it is probably closer to $50 trillion.
I think our cities are filled with parents who would Opt Out of tests if they thought it would help keep their children out of the Army.
My own kids get lots of recruiters calling anyways. We had two Marines at the door for my son in full dress, which was impressive. One Sergeant calls my daughter weekly. We do not mind and they are doing a legitimate job. It seems high GPA and good grades are valued. I suspect the high tech of today’s military requires much more training than when my older relatives stormed Normandy or drove convoys through the Rhine valley. Having so many friends and relatives in the armed forces and myself having worked on defense systems, letting recruiters talk to students seems far from controversial.
Please ask your representative to vote against this bill if it is forced to a vote within 60 days. Ask them to instead support a moratorium on the NCLB standardized testing mandates until a new ESEA renewal is discussed and passed.
“I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but I hate the name of this new act.”
It is a dead horse well worth beating.
I found this out when I was visiting in my son’s high school and saw the Army recruiter in the office. I was horrified that they were allowed to spark to my minor son without my permission. I opted him out of this option.
I don’t feel that children under the age of eighteen should be subjected to the high pressure tactics common to the military. Once they are old enough to make their own decisions, that is a different story. Prior to that, please leave our children alone.
Unfortunately, the governments sense of entitlement which supports the military in our schools is reflected in the current educational situation as evidenced by common core and assessments. There is some sort of belief that parental rights take a backseat to the needs of our legislatures, as if they have “eminent domain” over our children. (Remember how they took children away from Native American parents because they believed an institutionalized school would be better for society? The after effects of this disastrous policy are currently affecting the children and grandchildren of these graduates.)
Our children should not be subjected to the experiments perpetuated against public education. Neither should parents be tricked into believing that Charter Schools are a panacea to the perceived problems found in enclaves of populations filled with minority students living in poverty.
Unfortunately, Congress has come up with some new words, but they are still whistling the same tune. I’ve grown to hate that particular “song”.
Ms. Ravitch, I am absolutely shocked that you are just finding out about military recruiter access to students in schools. Without knowing that, you are missing a huge part of the privatization and militarization of schools, and the authoritative beliefs that restrict critical thought. Without knowing of the use of STEM classes to recruit middle schoolers, etc etc etc, how can one link poverty and racism with other social justice movements in the world?
I’d be happy to write an article for you.
Kathy Barker
kbarker715@gmail.com
Kathy Barker, I would be delighted to get a post from you.