<p>A very viable option for many students at my school is the Army or the Marines - we have a recruitment office (its really just a table with some chairs right outside the cafeteria) that is set up 24/7. There are two men from the Marines and two men from the Army, always there, trying to recruit kids - not directly, but basically just by catching them on their way to lunch to discuss the "benefits of joining". They tend to give away a ton of free stuff. 1/4 of our school carries Army backpacks that were given to them during lunch. Joining, or at least talking about joining, has become so commonplace that it seems like everyone who doesn't happen to be in the top 10% of our class (boys and girls alike) are either joining or considering it. </p>
<p>I avoid the table, I don't even go to the cafeteria anymore. I have serious qualms about trying to persuade 14 year olds to join the military, especially when there (at the time) were two wars going on - but my political views aside - it seems like the vast majority of kids are "amped" about the military.</p>
<p>Formal 2 or 4 year schooling at a college or vocational training seems to be out of the question for them. Hm.</p>
<p>(It is also odd since I live in Greater Boston, a very liberal/immigrant community, where people typically are more wary of sending their kids off to war.) </p>
<p>We have two Marine guys always outside our cafeteria everyday too. They usually only talk to Juniors or Seniors. They don’t try to convince kids not to go to college, mainly because it would be a waste of time at our school. Even the underachievers want to go to community college or vocational training. The government paying for your schooling is the main thing they use to convince people into joining. This is especially effective since a lot of kids at my school are interested in bio-med.</p>
<p>We have recruiters from all branches come to our lunches once a quarter…we have a JROTC unit at our school, and those are basically the only kids who talk to them, and I think it annoys the recruiters because they hang around the table the whole time trying to get free stuff and telling them how they’re going to join. Other than that, not that many kids go up to them, which I always find ironic because a lot of kids at my school don’t go to college, and could probably benefit from the regimentation of the military. </p>
<p>At any rate, I don’t think the recruiters dissuade them from going to college, they simply tell them if college isn’t for them, then they (the students) should consider the military.</p>
<p>my school doesn’t have these recruiter type people, but i think it’s a good idea for schools to have them. kids are persuaded to go to college all the time, but some people might be better suited in other areas. we need a military, just like we need college students.</p>
<p>The recruiters at my school basically go out and tell kids (who are Freshman a lot of the time) - “Oh, a 3.0 GPA? You can’t get into a decent school at any affordable rate… college isn’t for you, bruh. Join.” then they bombard them with literature, free pens, t-shirts, etc. </p>
<p>Maybe I’m just a bleed heart liberal - but I don’t think children (in my mind, 14 year olds are still kids) should be brainwashed that they’re unfit for college right from the jump and that they should commit to the military. I feel like it gives them complexes that they carry throughout school.</p>
<p>I always hear kids at my school saying; “yeah, I got a D in Geometry this quarter, but its whatever - I only need XYZ for the Marines.” so from the very start, they’re tailoring their high school career based solely on what the military requires as a bare minimum.</p>
<p>I have had recruiters call our home, asking to speak to my 18-year-old. When I explain that he has a mental illness and a bleeding disorder, they say goodbye quickly!</p>
<p>My husband’s sister and her husband are very liberal. Their three sons could have done just about anything without shocking them. So guess what the youngest one did? Come home one day and announce that he was going to sign up with the National Guard! Ha, he managed to find something that horrified his parents! He changed his mind eventually, but not because of what his folks thought.</p>
<p>Recruiter types may come once a week.
We have a huge JROTC program though, so there’s a huge “army aspiration” base, they’re just not directly recruited.</p>
<p>I think they probably gave up hope on my school, but each of the Marines, Air Force, and Military people come once a quarter, but on different weeks. I know of people who end up at the Naval Academy, but there’s been like 2 people in the history of my school who’ve gone to the military.</p>
<p>No- they tried to encourage seniors to join the army this year (we had this big assembly), but honestly, it was a bunch of funk with cheesey music. Like, I’m surprised actual soldiers don’t roll their eyes at how heroic people portray them to be- most aren’t put in horrible situations. </p>
<p>Ugh, sorry, rant. So, yeah, no. My school has about 500 kids in it’s graduating class, and maybe 2 or 3 will join the military.</p>
<p>edit: Okay, so everyone’s schools’ are really pushing young kids to make such a big decision? That’s kind of horrible- most of them don’t know what actually goes on, not really. They just see the nationalism of the thing.</p>
<p>A similar thing is setup at my school with theNavy,Marines and Army. Many people from my school are also going to be going into the Army or Air Force as well. I would say out of the 500 or so in my senior class, more than half are enlisting. I do live in a big army town though.</p>
<p>@preamble1776 there is also a similar effect going on at my school as well. People who always made good grades are now just “trying to pass” because they are enlisting…</p>
<p>We do not have recruiters at our school every day of the week, but, they’re here on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They visit 10th-12th grade classrooms as well. When the recruiter came to our AP Euro class, which is sophomore only at our school, they discussed the benefits of joining straight out but the recruiter spent most of the time discussing military colleges, such as West Point, Air Force Academy, etc, and how we can get nominated to attend. I don’t mind them being there because I can learn about all my options and to be quite honest, I’ll probably try to get a nomination for one of the military colleges so I’m thankful for that being brought to my attention.</p>
<p>They had this big assembly thing that my AP World class was required to attend last year - I was thankful for it because I hadn’t done my homework that day and my teacher didn’t have the time to check it. We did a bunch of stupid trust exercises.</p>
<p>I stayed out of it along with a few other people. I got to talk to a guy I had a teensy crush on who had been equally cynical about the military’s ubiquitous nature as a fixture at our school. But everyone else was SO AMPED. I saw this petite girl with a mousy voice go on bragging to a ll of her girlfriends about how she was “def joining naow.” just because she won some stupid t shirt and lanyard.</p>
just because she won some stupid t shirt and lanyard.</p>