BOARDWATCH: Veterans for Peace continues to remind Rahm's Board of Education of the obscenity of CPS militarism
[Editor's Note: The following statement was delivered to the February 25, 2015 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education by Arny Stieber, a Vietnam veteran, who has repeatedly spoken at Board meetings in opposition to the most militarized public school system in the USA. The following was provided to Substance by Mr. Stieber. As usual, the Board of Education members, who have routinely approved the expansions of militarization in CPS schools, sat quietly and ignored the veterans' reminders. George N. Schmidt, Editor].
Veterans for Peace, www.ChicagoVFP.org, Facebook - DeMilitarizeCPS
Veterans for Peace spokesman Arny Stieber, right at microphone, returned to the Board of Education for the group's monthly reminder to the Board that Chicago should cease the militarization of Chicago Public Schools, which is the most militarized school system in the USA. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.February 25, 2015
TO: Chicago Board of Education and Rahm Emanuel My name is Arny Stieber. I�m a grandfather, and an Army infantry veteran from the U.S. war against the people of Viet Nam.
I�m here today to speak to you about the military model. You�ve noticed the military model being applied to police forces all across the nation . . and the resulting brutality. When good people are trained to do bad things, they will do bad things. Our children are no different.
The military model is conflict resolution by violence. I�ll say that again � the military model is conflict resolution by violence. The military model is following orders without question. The military model is expensive to humanity. The military model is detrimental to the well being of this nation. Yet, Chicago Public Schools is teaching the military model to over 10,000 children. CPS is the most militarized school system in the nation.
It has been said that children do better academically in military academies and in a military environment. Children �do better� when they are given opportunities, resources and recognition in any environment. Give them opportunities, resources and recognition in a science academy, a poetry academy, or a traditional classroom, and they will do better and thrive.
Veterans For Peace, through our initiative �Education not Militarization�, is standing up for the children of Chicago and for our nation. We are working to educate the community on the reality of the military model. We seek to build a movement to remove the military model of conflict resolution by violence from the lives of children here in Chicago. We ask you, and the entire community of Chicago and the nation to join us. Peace at home, Peace abroad. Thank you.
Veterans For Peace is an international 501(c)3 organization founded in 1985.
Comments:
By: Rod Estvan
Disadvantaged youth and the US military
As most Chicagoans know the JROTC program in the Chicago Public Schools is very old, the new development is full military academies. But even the academies have now existed for years.
What is the balance sheet on these programs? If the objective of the JROTC program is to get more low income urban youth on track to become officers it has been a total failure. If we look at the ACT scores of the Chicago Military Academy HS (77% black, 20% Hispanic, and 89% low income) we discover over the last three years about 90% of graduates are considered to be not college ready in math.
Not only will almost all of these graduates not qualify to become officers, most will score so low on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) that many branches of the military will not accept them as enlisted service men and women. In short for most low income minority youth who do want a military career these programs are a fraud.
The issue of demilitarization has become an obsession in Chicago among many activists, but they completely ignor the academic failure of these programs for the very poor minority students they claim to be protecting from slaughter on the battlefield. I would suggest a somewhat more balanced approach.
Rod Estvan
By: Gary Ghirardi
Militarized Chicago Schools
The armored plated elephant in the room that few are willing to acknowledge is the historical and increasing presence of U.S. cultural militarism in our society including its expansion in our public schools. This reality is coloring everything from our policing to our entertainment offerings. The worse effect is the militarization of our children. Pentagon programs in our public schools have gone past the development and funding of militarized programs for adolescents like JROTC and Young Marines and have now introduced programs to integrate younger audiences to the correctness of militaristic values and to ultimately recruit them into military service.\r\rThe National Network Opposing the Militarization of Youth recognizes and supports the contribution and struggle of DeMilitarizeCPS to demilitarize Chicago public schools and rejects the opportunism by the Pentagon convert disadvantaged youth into a defacto warrior class.