Posted on 06/27/2004 4:36:13 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
| Photo/Tom Lynn |
| Bix Firer is a recent graduate of Shorewood High School.
Shorewood - Earlier this school year, when a military recruiter sought to buy an ad in Ripples - the student newspaper at this lakeside village's public high school - the recruiter met a less-than-friendly response.
Bix Firer, 17, editor of the newspaper, rejected the offer, saying the U.S. military's actions run contrary to the advertising policy he drafted.
The policy rebuffs businesses and organizations "deemed destructive to the social, economic and environmental health of the earth and all of its inhabitants."
He also says he didn't want the student publication being used to advance the cause of "warmongers."
Firer says the recruiter sought to convince the newspaper's adviser, Shorewood High School English teacher Mike Halloran, of "how delightful it would be for us to be taking money from this organization we didn't like."
"They were just kind of engaged in a sell job," Halloran says, adding that the recruiter asked if Ripples "really wanted to turn down this big wad of cash." Attempts to reach the recruiter, a member of the Wisconsin National Guard, were unsuccessful.
Accepting money for the full-page ad, which cost $300, would have brought in about $3,000 for the school year. But Firer held firm.
The anecdote shows the kind of resistance military recruiters are apt to face in affluent school districts such as Shorewood.
Seniors at Shorewood High School are only one-third as likely as the average Wisconsin student to choose military service for a post-graduation plan, according to an analysis of data collected annually by the state Department of Public Instruction.
And with only 1 in 100 planning on joining the military upon graduation, they are less likely than seniors in any other school district in Milwaukee County to sign up, the DPI figures show.
Some Shorewood students say their reasons vary for avoiding the military. But they say it mostly has to do with having well-educated parents who can more easily afford to send them to college.
They also say that having well-educated parents enables them to do better academically, and thus gives them more academic opportunities.
"We got the brain power here," says Chris Rowe, 17, who plans to study business or engineering.
Other students say the academic environment is a competitive one where many students think they are above military service.
"At Shorewood," says Nick Pierson, who wrote for Ripples under the name "Mad Max," "everyone's got this mind-set that everyone's going to go to like a really high-level college and these very prestigious universities.
"A lot of people think the military is below them."
Other students cite the community's relatively liberal stance on most issues, which translates into opposition to military adventures such as the war in Iraq.
They also cite the influences of parents and community members, many of whom include college professors at the nearby University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Firer, the Ripples editor, is the son of two UWM English professors.
Firer says he rejected the advertising money from the military in part because of the war in Iraq, which he says is further destablizing an unstable area.
He also says the military is "both classist and racist in its approach."
"I realize this is sort of absurd coming from a privileged, white male, but the recruitment sort of targets those with fewer opportunities," Firer says.
Lt. Col. Andy Frank, commander of the U.S. Army Milwaukee Recruiting Battalion, says the military isn't concerned with what kind of socioeconomic background recruits come from, as long as they are physically and morally fit and able to pass the aptitude test.
"The Army doesn't care if you come from a well-to-do family or a middle-class family," Frank says. "I want a quality applicant. That's the bottom line."
Halloran, the Shorewood English teacher, once taught in the St. Francis School District. He speculates that the reason St. Francis High School has the highest percentage of students who plan on military service upon graduation, and Shorewood has the fewest, is "cultural."
He said most St. Francis parents stressed a "sort of blind respect for authority," telling their sons and daughters, " 'You listen to Mr. Halloran, because he's the teacher.' "
But in Shorewood, parents are "a little bit different.
"There are questioners here," Halloran says. "St. Francis, you get some of this flat-out respect as a teacher, and I think some of that translates to the military."
Drew Novotny, a shop teacher at St. Francis High, called Halloran's remarks "arrogant" and said there's nothing wrong with students who choose the military to gain career skills or money for college. Not all Shorewood students are critical of those who join the military, and some say they may ultimately decide to join the military themselves.
One unlikely and potential military recruit is Pierson, who criticized President Bush in a recent column for using images of victims from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks for a campaign ad.
Pierson says soldiers have an "honorable profession" and that what they do is a "perfectly good career or way to get money.
"You can be critical of the administration and still think that you can serve your country," Pierson says. "People confuse being patriotic with support for the president."
As for military service, Pierson says he hasn't totally ruled it out.
"The thing is," Pierson says, "I don't know if I'd make a good military person."
The Conservative
|
| Photo/Tom Lynn |
| Mark Dobson is a recent graduate of St. Francis High School. St. Francis - Earlier this school year, when military recruiters began calling him at home to discuss the prospects of working for Uncle Sam, 18-year-old St. Francis High School senior Mark Dobson didn't need much convincing.
The son of a blue-collar family with a long history of military service, Dobson ultimately signed a four-year contract with the U.S. Marines.
His duty is set to begin one week before Christmas. The recent high school graduate says he plans to enjoy his freedom until then, but after that, he knows he's the "military property" of Uncle Sam.
"I'm giving up my freedom so other people can enjoy theirs," said Dobson, sporting a welding apron over his muscular frame in shop class, where he had spent his lunch hour building a harp cart for a music teacher.
Dobson is by no means alone in St. Francis, a working-class community with a population just under 10,000.
Seniors at St. Francis High School are nearly twice as likely as the average Wisconsin student to choose military service for their post-graduation plans, according to an analysis of data collected annually by the state Department of Public Instruction.
And with 1 in 20 planning on joining the military upon graduation, they are more likely than seniors in any other school district in Milwaukee County to have such plans, the department figures show.
Some students in St. Francis say choosing the military is a matter of American pride. They reject the suggestion that their reasons might be more practical than patriotic.
"I don't think it has anything to do with low income," says Cia Janick, 18, who was senior class president at St. Francis High School, sporting her school basketball team shirt, which says "No Fears, No Regrets."
"It has to do with how much you love your country and how much respect you have."
Of all the suburban public high schools in Milwaukee County, St. Francis has the lowest percentage - 34.5% - who plan to attend a four-year college.
Unlike his peers in Shorewood, where 76.4% of the seniors planned to attend a four-year college, recent St. Francis High School graduate Joey Wiseman, 18, says the academic environment at his school is too lax, not challenging at all.
"St. Francis is so easy," says Wiseman, who signed a contract to join the U.S. Army. "I learned that by not doing anything, and I'm still graduating."
Military recruiters from various branches of the armed services paid at least three visits to St. Francis High School in May, school officials say. On the other hand, recruiters paid no visits last month to Shorewood High School, the Milwaukee County suburban high school with the lowest percentage of students who plan to join the military after graduation.
Critics, including former military recruiters and representatives of anti-war groups such as the Central Committeefor Conscientious Objectors, see that as "targeting the poor," whereas military recruiters say they are just going where they are more likely to get results.
Military recruiting strategists do rely on scientific and behavioral studies, such as one that breaks down the U.S. population into 50 distinct socioeconomic groups with labels that range from the "Lap of Luxury" and "White Picket Fence," to "Stars and Stripes," "Trying Rural Times" and "Difficult Times," military documents show.
Armed with such data, military recruiters strive to maintain a presence in area high schools to achieve their recruiting goals.
"We must continue to maintain a foothold in the high schools," says a memo that commanders at Fort Knox in Kentucky sent to the Milwaukee recruiting battalion of the U.S. Army one year after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. "It is critical to our short-term and long-term recruiting success."
Top recruiting officials in Wisconsin insist they are not targeting high school students, but rather college students with some kind of technical expertise.
"People have this preconceived notion that it's the high school student that we're after. That dynamic has changed, or it's not the case in Wisconsin," says Lt. Col. Andy Frank, commander of the U.S. Army Milwaukee Recruiting Battalion, which is responsible for recruiting efforts in Wisconsin and parts of upper Michigan.
"We have this educated market here," Frank said. "And we know we've got to go to the colleges to get the folks."
Military policy analysts say plans to expand America's armed forces mean recruiters may not be able to be that selective in the near future.
"The peacetime military would be looking to recruit more from colleges. They do have these high skill technical slots they want to fill," says Charles Knight, co-director of the Project on Defense Alternatives at the Commonwealth Institute in Cambridge, Mass.
"But I think in the coming period, they're going to look wherever they can, because they're going to need to recruit a lot more."
And if history is any indication, recruiting will always be easier in places where times are harder.
The military's presence appears to be welcome at St. Francis High School.
Posted near the office is a U.S. Army stand with a bunch of "An Army of One" brochures. The scuffed wooden doors that line the hallway near the cafeteria are plastered with Wisconsin National Guard fliers.
Critics say youths from working-class and low-income communities such as St. Francis are being enticed with enlistment bonuses, money for college and the like, and manipulated for political purposes.
Dobson says he doesn't feel like he's being manipulated. He says the American invasion of Iraq was a "good thing" because Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who needed to be removed, although he believes it's now time to "step back" and let Iraqis govern themselves.
As for accepting help from the military to get an education or career skills, Dobson has no qualms.
"In St. Francis, we don't always have the money," Dobson says. "So the military helps us along." |
And, since when do schools allow children to set policy? This "adviser" should be setting editorial direction, not a kid.
And certainly not a kid named "Bix."
"I realize this is sort of absurd coming from a privileged, white male, but the recruitment sort of targets those with fewer opportunities," Firer says.
Hey Firer,I guess those nasty recruiters that tried to recruit you and your friends haven't got the message that they're not supposed to bother you upper-class pansyasses. You are too "priveleged" for military service yet have the nerve to state the military "targets" the worse-off?
You are definitely a liberal.
Snotty kid.
He may be pasty but we cannot deny that any newspaper has the right to choose whatever advertising it wishes.
Of course the Army needs thousands of more troops than it has (thank God Congress realizes that) and so it can use all the help it can get.
Army recruitment has succeeded its goals last year, and is on track to surpass them again this year. What right does one student have in deciding what advertising should go into a public school newspaper?
Did you catch the line that both his parents are english profs at UW-Milwaukee? I took one english class (pre-req) at that university, (engineering major) they cram liberal tripe down your throat constantly, from the reading material, to the theme of the papers assigned.
Even those owned by the government?
And welcome to FreeRepublic
that's a polite way of putting it.
Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, and Massachusetts and others have laws that afford students their full first amendment rights and shield them from Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988).
And even if he doesn't reside in one of those states, the Hazelwood ruling wasn't firm and could definitely be contested in court using Tinker vs Des Moines (1969) as precedent.
It affords one student? What about the student's teacher advisor, or other students on the paper, wouldn't the decision of be that of the advisor? I find it hard to imagine one student in a public school has the right to decide what advertisers can go into the paper. On the other hand, any conservative paper is fought tooth and nail for any infraction.
" The liberal (left) even look like a liberal. "
Meek, mild, emotional, while the conservative young man looks scarely of the skinhead ilk.
I wish America could produce nothing but a positive combination of both types BEST QUALITIES resulting in strong, compassionate, gutsy, steadfast dignified mature adults. That's the American I'd be honored to know.
Kick the radical extremists OUT!
"We got the brain power here," says Chris Rowe, 17, who plans to study business or engineering.
Typical of a liberal response. "We're so smart. We got all the answers".
The kid on the left looks like something from a Woody Allen movie. The kid on the right looks like something from the Justice League of America. Who would you rather be associated with?
I went to a public high school that had prayer circles around the flag pole and bible sessions during lunch, so I'm sure that not every conservative paper would be fought tooth and nail.
But anyways, regarding policy -- if his advisor had him write the regulations and she approves of them, then everything is hunkydory.
And how would Bix Firer feel about being drafted?
Better still: Who would you rather your teenage daughter go out with?
think of it this way: he wouldn't survive Boot.
You know it, I know it, and - deep underneath the posturing BS - wussy-boy knows it.
Bull. Who pays for that paper? Where's their office? Do they pay their own rent, or are they located in a school building? Where did their computers come from? Who's paying the salary of their faculty advisor? Who prints the paper?
This paper is subsidized by the taxpayers, not just of Shorewood, but Wisconsin (a significant percentage of the district's budget comes from the state) and the federal government. They have no right to reject an advertisement from a military recruiter, and impose their leftist ideology on their fellow students.
The only reason that little over-privileged pansy has a newspaper to edit is because a millions of better men than him served their country. It's too bad his liberal parents never taught him that.
What a condescending little pr*ck. He's completely clueless about the military, and the skills required.
-"says Nick Pierson, who wrote for Ripples under the name "Mad Max"...-
Why do Pasty Lefty Brats pick these tough-sounding names for themselves?
I almost feel sorry for the liberal kid. How do parents allow their kid to become that arrogant? He is going to have big issues when he joins the real world.
Couldn't this be considered censorship, the school is a governmental organization, and they are disallowing the free flow of options.
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