According to Leo Sandy, a professor of Counselor Education and School Psychology at Plymouth State University, High school students in JROTC should “remind us of “Japan and Germany in the late ’30s and early ’40s.”
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” …we notice young children wearing uniforms, carrying guns and marching with precision.”
So, Hitler youth.
You are making a comparison between New Hampshire High School kids in JROTC to Hitler Youth.
To the Editor: When we see old newsreels of Japan and Germany in the late ’30s and early ’40s, we notice young children wearing uniforms, carrying guns and marching with precision.
When we see these images, we are aghast at the indoctrination that a militaristic society can perpetrate on its youth. Yet when we see our own children marching with uniforms and guns as part of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, we celebrate their patriotism and presumed character formation.
Am I wrong?
He then goes on to quote text from the Army JROTC and Navy JROTC to make the case that,
JROTC with its curriculum of war has no place in a world that needs to find new and better ways to get along. Only a curriculum of peace will develop individuals capable of creating authentic and lasting world peace.
Before we go any further, this is Professor Leo Sandy’s bio,
I have been teaching at PSU since 1996 and before that I was at Rivier College for 25 years (12 FT, 13 PT). I was a school psychologist for Lowell, MA Schools for 9 years and for several New Hampshire school districts. I am a U.S. Navy, Vietnam era veteran and member of Veterans for Peace. I have also been a columnist for the Laconia Daily Sun. I am a volunteer parent educator for the NH Department of Corrections. I am married and have two adult children and one grandchild.
He sounds like a smart guy. Plenty of worldly experience. He’s also a long-time Democrat donor. Not surprising for a career in higher ed. That means he supports the Left’s utopian vision with his checkbook.
Has that blinded Professor Sandy to an honest understanding that the Democrat Party prescriptions are impossible without a national curriculum of war to keep the people who might object to ideological slavery from rebelling?
It is inevitable with all forms of socialism.
Is that why you also stopped to invoke racism?
JROTC also targets low-income communities. Fifty-four percent of JROTC participants nationwide are students of color. The military targets low-income schools the same way tobacco and alcohol companies do. The results are equally deadly. It is no accident that 50 percent of combat troops are people of color.
While I commend your commitment to peace and thank you for your service, our world is not a peaceful place. Peace requires the ability to project strength as a deterrent to war. It strikes me as no less vital than the right to defend your person or your property.
To project strength, the armed services need soldiers. And when you need recruits for anything you invest resources where you are most likely to produce results. Strong young men and women who are hungry for almost any opportunity. So, why would students of color be more willing?
How about to escape the misery and violence of inner-city life created by decades of one-party Democrat rule?
You want to blame someone look in the mirror.
Whose fault is it that Kids looking for an escape from the glories of the Left’s Democrat Socialist experiment and the violence of progressive disarmament might not take the first shiny object that comes along? An opportunity to join the military, acquire skills, get money for college, possibly learn to be something other than a dependent Democrat voter.
Of course, you might have to put up with some Plymouth State professor comparing your student participation in the JROTC to joining the Hitler Youth.
I’d say it’s worth the risk.
