Some teachers getting free military training

Posted by Philissa at 9:09 PM

We already know that military recruitment goes "unchecked" at many high schools around the city and that the DOE says it prefers schools to have freedom from regulations than freedom from military incursions. But did you know that the Marines routinely fly teachers, counselors, and parent coordinators — those they consider "influencers" over high school students' decisions whether to enlist — to South Carolina to "see how we make Marines"? The Daily News recently reported that when the parent coordinator from W.E.B. DuBois High School came back from her trip to Parris Island, she said, "They had a belief in what they were doing. ... It changed my mind about the whole thing. It was real." Donna Lieberman of the New York Civil Liberties Union, which spearheaded the report about excessive military recruiting in NYC schools, told the Daily News that teachers were getting "a sugar-coated experience that is designed to turn teachers into cheerleaders for the Marines." With teachers as cheerleaders, who needs recruiters?