HELIOLITH

The NPR morning news today reported that some parents are upset that the military checks into the files of high schoolers ages 16 to 18. The reporter stated that they may look into the students’ grades, ethnicity, and home addresses in preparation for recruiting them when they come of age. The military has access to the files of minors through the No Child Left Behind legislation which Bush signed into effect on January 8, 2002.

I dug up the text of the legislation and learned the following from Section 9528. Armed Forces recruiter access to students and student recruiting information:

‘‘SEC. 9528. ARMED FORCES RECRUITER ACCESS TO STUDENTS AND
STUDENT RECRUITING INFORMATION.
‘‘(a) POLICY.—
‘‘(1) ACCESS TO STUDENT RECRUITING INFORMATION.—Notwithstanding
section 444(a)(5)(B) of the General Education
Provisions Act and except as provided in paragraph (2), each
local educational agency receiving assistance under this Act
shall provide, on a request made by military recruiters or
an institution of higher education, access to secondary school
students names, addresses, and telephone listings.
‘‘(2) CONSENT.—A secondary school student or the parent
of the student may request that the student’s name, address,
and telephone listing described in paragraph (1) not be released
without prior written parental consent, and the local educational
agency or private school shall notify parents of the
option to make a request and shall comply with any request.
‘‘Sec. 9528. Armed Forces recruiter access to students and student recruiting information.

I ended up writing a letter to NPR to see if I could find out more:

“I heard a report on Morning Edition this morning about angry parents who objected to the military’s accessing their children’s names and addresses. The reporter stated that part of the No Child Left Behind Act allowed the military to obtain details about students, including grades and ethnicity. Section 9528 of this act explains that while schools funded by the act must release “students’ names, addresses and telephone listings,” to the military, “a secondary school student or the parent of the student may request that the student’s name, address,and telephone listing described in paragraph (1) not be released without prior written parental consent, and the local educational agency or private school shall notify parents of the option to make a request and shall comply with any request.”
I am curious to know if the reporter can tell me if parents are made aware of their right to place such a request in order to prevent their children from coming under such recruitment tactics from the military. In addition, I would like to know if the military can legally recruit individuals under the age of 18. I’d appreciate any information you may be able to provide me with. Thanks.”

I’ll post any replies I get.

I’d like to find out more. Can the military access the files of anyone? Dropouts? Can it recruit people under 18? Do the army ads I see in the movie theaters occur on movies rated less than R?

Rather than save this as a draft only to forget about it, I’ll post this now and see what anyone has to say. I’ll write more if anything of interest comes up.