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Military controversy sparked when new perspective presented

Staff Sgt. Joseph Schaffner listens to a student outside of the cafeteria during lunch. CREDIT: JACOB TAVERA
Staff Sgt. Joseph Schaffner listens to a student outside of the cafeteria during lunch.
CREDIT: JACOB TAVERA

Sitting in her Global Perspectives class on the last day of October, senior Bailee Sveen listened to a counter military recruiting presentation about the challenges of signing up for the military with keen ears. She then realized that she had only ever received romantic ideas of what the military was like through the media.

“I knew about the military from movies and TV, which is fake, so I barely knew anything,” Sveen said.

Students like Sveen are sometimes prompted to decide their futures their senior year, making these decisions with the information that they seek.

However, college booths and military recruiters set up in the building to give information to students that might be making those choices. According to principal John Koch, as of November 24, there have been 31 college visits, often in the college and career center, and 18 military recruiter visits.

During this school year, military recruiters are scheduled to come into school for a total of 45 days to give students information about the potential military experience. According to Koch, more often than not, these military recruiters are in the activities hallway in order to get attention from students, since it is required that military recruiters wait for kids to talk to them.

According to Sgt. 1st Class Phillip Davis, a recruiter from the United States Army, he has about two juniors or seniors that come to his booth each visit. With each conversation, Davis personalizes the military to their interests, but he knows that the military is not for everyone.

“When students come to me, I try to get to know them,” Davis said. “I want to know what their passions and goals are. I want to know why they’re there.”

Without many upperclassmen coming to their tables at lunchtime, recruiters like Davis will call students personally or go to places that they might be roaming around, like popular restaurants.

These recruiters are some students’ only source of information.

One-hundred-fifty-nine seniors in social studies teacher Mark Adamski’s Global Perspectives classes were given a survey by the Gresham Argus to find out how the students in those classes perceive their military access.

One-hundred-six, or 66.67 percent, reported that they get their information about the military from military recruiters.

“Anything I tell anyone is always the truth,” Sgt. 1st Class Joseph McClelland, a recruiter from the United States Army with Davis, said.

Since the beginning of year, Adamski has been working with counter military recruiters John Grueschow, War Resisters League program coordinator, and Jeff Shoemaker, Iraq war veteran and member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, to come into his classroom and talk about one of the many sides of the military. Adamski said it is a side that is not being addressed.

“(The other side) was something I wanted to bring in, but since I saw military recruiters come in, I thought that it would be a good time,” Adamski said.

While Adamski brought in the counter military recruiters in an attempt to address what he sees as an imbalance in information, Koch saw the issue differently.

According to Koch, having counter military recruiters in the classroom brought the information to the kids as a captive audience, while the military recruiters only wait for kids to walk up to them until they start speaking.

For Adamski, the amount of military material makes all students such an audience.

“They walk in and see the memorial in the front office, the U.S. lanyards, the Leatherneck magazine in the library, (and) to me, that feels like approval,” Adamski said. “Every student is a captive audience in this school. There is a fine line between pro-military recruitment, pro-military and pro-militarism.”

Senior Suzy Eide inquires counter military recruiters John Grueschow and Jeff Shoemaker during her Global Perspectives class. CREDIT: SAVION JONES
Senior Suzy Eide inquires counter military recruiters John Grueschow and Jeff Shoemaker during her Global Perspectives class.
CREDIT: SAVION JONES

Perspectives on military recruitment in the school, however, are wide ranging.

Senior Jacob Frison has been sworn in to be in the Marines after high school. For him, having military recruiters in the school gives students more opportunities for their future.

“I think that (military recruiters) should be welcomed more than they are,” Frison said.

According to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, all high schools must give all organizations, like colleges, community colleges and military recruiters the same opportunities in addressing kids in school.

In Portland Public Schools, according to their Equal Access Guidelines for Military and Counter-Military Recruiting for 2014-2015 document, the purpose of both military and counter military recruiters visiting schools is “to provide students opportunities to assess and evaluate career information from a variety of perspectives.”

Ryan Connell, Senior Specialist in Talent Management for Portland Public Schools (PPS), said counter military recruiters have been encouraged to come to high schools and speak on the same terms as military recruiters since 2011, due to the administrative policy the district follows based on the No Child Left Behind.

“At Portland Public, we try to be an equal advocate for (military and counter military recruiters),” Connell said. “We love our men and women that fight for our country, but the military isn’t for everyone. We want them to have the opportunity to make a well rounded choice.”

At Wilson High School, in the Portland Public Schools district, vice principal Ayesha Freeman said there are only three days out of the year that Wilson allows colleges, community colleges, military recruiters and, as a requirement to make sure both sides are represented, counter military recruiters to come in and talk to students.

“It’s all about equal access,” Freeman said.

Although PPS requires that counter military recruiters like Veterans For Peace come into their schools, Gresham High School does not have a counter military recruiter present for every military recruiter that comes to the school.

“PPS board policy requires that we get both perspectives,” Freeman said. “They’re all in the same space and get along pretty well. Equal access and knowing all of the opportunities is important for students.”

According to Koch, the presence of the military in the school has to do with how the military recruiters choose to use every piece of the No Child Left Behind to get their information to the students.

“That perceived imbalance, I don’t know if I see that. Some organizations take more opportunities than others,” Koch said.

According to senior Brett Parsons, the military is a good thing to have to protect the country, but said he feels “indifferent” about military recruiters.

“I think it’s a good opportunity, but I wouldn’t be upset if they weren’t there,” Parsons said.

Unlike Parsons, not every student feels that they can share their opinions on the military.

Through the survey, 38.36 percent of students in Adamski’s Global Perspectives classes said they were uncomfortable with sharing their military opinions.

English teacher Ed Sage sees students struggling to foster their ideas in a space where many of the students are pro-military.

“There is communal imbalance and that’s a problem for some people and what to do about it, I’m not sure,” Sage said.

According to Adamski, the main reason why he brought in the military counter recruiters is to solve what he sees as a military imbalance in the school and to provide more information.

“I thought the reason why (the students) were so respectful and attentive was because their minds were blown,” Adamski said. “They had never heard this in their lives.”

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    JoshJun 14, 2016 at 7:50 am

    Keep the military out of the schools. Children need not be exposed to such propaganda. Sage and Adamski are right.

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