Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Oh, by the way
For those of you who haven't been following, now that the election is over, San Francisco is moving forward with its plan to eliminate the JROTC program at their high schools. The Chron questions the timing.
"We don't want the military ruining our civilian institutions," said Sandra Schwartz, of the American Friends Service Committee, an organization actively opposing JROTC nationwide. JROTC is ruining schools, as you can see...
Students, parents and school staff from each of the seven high schools converged outside the school board meeting carrying signs and waving at cars, some of which honked in support.
At least 100 cadets edged into Franklin Street waving their signs before being pushed back to the sidewalk by their ROTC instructors.
Inside, an hour before the meeting was to start, more than 60 people had signed up to speak on the issue.
The students say they learn leadership and organizational skills, personal responsibility, money and time management and how to be a team player, among other things.
Many students say they have found a home in the program, a place they are accepted.
Supporters say the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy doesn't apply to JROTC -- there are gay cadets -- and gay instructors -- in the program.
"This is where the kids feel safe, the one place they feel safe," said Robert Powell, a JROTC instructor at Lincoln High School and a retired Army lieutenant colonel. "You're going to take that away from them?"
Opponents acknowledge the program is popular and even helps some students stay in school and out of trouble. Oh... that's some smoldering ruin that JROTC left in the place of their schools. None of this is really challenged by the opponents of the program, they just find the military icky and think it helps recruitment, since as we all know, almost every JROTC cadet goes on to join the military. God forbid the military provide a place for students going out into the world.
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