|
Hi
George,
I noticed that you posted Marc
Fisher's column to your website. Unfortunately, he grossly misrepresented
the discussion that took place on the Blair list serve. I don't think he
saw the actual discussion, but relied on what he was told about it by John
Shanahan, whose daughter is a military recruiter. I don't think Marc practiced
good journalistic integrity. This is the letter to the editor that I sent
to the Washington Post, but they chose not to print it. I did send
a similar version to Marc Fisher on his "Potomac Confidential",
but it did not appear there either.
I'll be glad to answer any questions you may have about this.
- Madeleine Fletcher (electronic mail, January 9, 2006)
Military recruiters overstep their boundaries, not parents
In his Dec. 18 column, "In Recruiting War, Parents Overstep Their Boundaries,"
Marc Fisher's account of a discussion among parents at Montgomery Blair
High School bore little resemblance to reality and trivialized the very
real and documented concerns about military recruiters, not only at Blair
but also nationwide. According to the New York Times (http://vredessite.nl/andernieuws/2005/week19/05-03_army.html),
one in five recruiters was investigated in 2004 for charges ranging from
threats, coercion, false promises that applicants would not be sent to Iraq,
encouraging students to lie, use fake diplomas, or get around drug tests
(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/05/02/eveningnews/main692497.shtml)
, to sexual assault and even rape of high school recruits (http://www.ncdsv.org/images/RecruiterAccusedofSexAssaultsCountsAgainst.pdf).
Here is what some Blair students wrote about military recruiters:
"They have forced friends to take pamphlets and hear them out, even
if they have said they are not interested."
"They have continuously talked after the person walked away to a point
where it is annoying to walk by them."
"I don't think they should be calling my house or sitting in the cafeteria
while I'm eating lunch and try to convince me to join them."
"They've called my house and tried to walk with me to my classes."
"Their tables look like advertisements for thrill rides, not the army."
"They over-hype the promises they make about opportunities."
They also approach kids who aren't doing as well in school and basically
tell them the only way they can succeed is to join the military."
And, from a Blair employee quoted in Fisher's column: "One of them
was walking out among the kids' lunch tables asking, 'Don't you want to
make some extra money?' "
Such aggressive salesmanship would not be tolerated in a shopping mall,
let alone in school cafeterias. Recruiters (whether college, corporate,
or military) should be stationed in career centers, where interested students
can conveniently access them for information - rather than in hallways and
cafeterias, as is the current practice in Montgomery County public high
schools. While allowing students to freely explore military career options
if they so choose, this simple measure would go a long way towards preventing
unwarranted harassment and intimidation.
Madeleine Fletcher |
|
