09/12/2012
Hawaii Leads the Charge Against “No Child Left Unharrassed” by Military Recruiters
By: Annie Curtis
Did you know that if you are under the age of 30, there is a good chance the military has an accurate and comprehensive profile on you? It’s true! And who provided it? Your high school! With the passage of “No Child Left Behind” in 2001, your school could actually lose federal funding if they don’t provide personal student information to the military! How about all those standardized tests you took back in the 11th grade? Did you know that one of them was the “Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery Test (ASVAB)? The test, though “optional,” is used solely for recruiting purposes, measuring the branch and type of service for which you would be best fit so that the military can send the appropriate recruiters to try to enlist you before your 18th birthday.
Does this make you a little uneasy? It should because several rights are being violated here, including your right to know that you can opt-out of the ASVAB test; your right to know what personal information is being distributed and to whom; and perhaps paramount to all, your right to be protected from military conscription while still under the age of eighteen.
Contention and the conflicting interests of our government and military have characterized the last decade. High schools were perfect recruiting grounds for a military desperately needing to fill enlistment quotas for the “War on Terror” in Iraq and Afghanistan. These interests superseded those of schools to protect children from unconstitutional recruiting of minors, and the “No Child Left Behind” Act permitted the military to assemble files on high school students. These violations of privacy and conscription policies went unnoticed for almost a decade – until the abuses came to the attention of the ACLU.
In 2008, the ACLU-funded report exposed the often deceptive, coercive, and abusive tactics used by recruiters to secure new underage enlistees. The ACLU surveyed students in New York State and discovered a variety of egregious violations that rendered recruitment involuntary, including threatening 17-year-olds who changed their minds after signing Deferred Entry contracts - forcing many of them to rescind and report to basic training anyway - omission of crucial details of military service, exaggerated promises of financial rewards for enlistment, and the deliberate practice of targeting low-income youth and students of color. The report further accuses the U.S. of failing to protect the rights of immigrant child soldiers seeking asylum in the U.S. or being detained by the U.S. military.
These allegations are particularly sharp as they violate basic international human rights standards. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has strictly banned any recruiting of children under the age of 18 – worldwide. The U.S. apparently thinks it’s exempt from this ban, despite being a signatory of the International Declaration on the Rights of the Child.
Fortunately, Hawai’i is setting the bar against the unconstitutional military recruiting of minors. Hawai’i has instituted a voluntary ban on ASVAB testing in public high schools, unless the student or their parents request to be tested and have their personal information released. Unfortunately, this is not a preventative policy – it is reactive. In 2009, several Kapolei High School students attended a pool party held by Marine recruiters. They were encouraged to lie to their parents about their whereabouts and sign up for the Marines. Other complaints include assembling private information about students even after parents have chosen to opt their children out of typical ASVAB reporting procedures. Only one other state, Maryland, has adopted similar restrictions.
This ban is particularly important for Hawai’i, since we have such a significant military presence and their influence in the state is far-reaching. So let’s give a shout out to Hawai’i for taking such huge steps to protect the rights and privacy of its students - our most valuable assets!
Though we’re setting an example for the rest of the nation, we still must remember that this is only an informal policy. It is not written into law – therefore the military may not be legally accountable if they violate these policies. It is up to all of us to demand our rights and the rights of our children to be free of harassment by military recruitment personnel. After all, if we don’t defend our rights, we could lose them! Please be aware that:
• Your school must provide you or your parents with an “opt-out” form. A complete opt-out form restricts your school from providing any personal information about you to the military. (You must request this form, it will probably not be offered).
• Information obtained from the ASVAB test is not the only way that the military gets information about you. The JAMR Database contains names, birthdates, addresses, emails, GPAs, test scores, racial and ethnic information, college plans, and more information on 30 million+ Americans between the ages of 16 and 25. You have the right to opt-out of the JAMR database as well.
• The military routinely targets immigrants, students from poor families, and people of color for enlistment. Know that you do not have to submit to pressure from recruiters. No penalties can result from choosing not to enlist.
For more information, visit:
http://www.nyclu.org/content/no-student-left-unrecruited-military-recruitment-and-students-rights
http://www.aclu.org/human-rights/soldiers-misfortune-abusive-us-military-recruitment-and-failure-protect-child-soldiers
The US Military is aggressively recruiting young people for military service. While enlisting in the armed services may be the right choice for many people, it is important that students and families know how to protect their rights in recruiting situations.
