The good guys in the battle against the militarization of American society won a small victory recently. In Montclair, New Jersey, parents of high-school students were alarmed to find that their children's biographical data was being released to recruiters in the armed forces to comply with a little-known provision in the 2001 education reform law passed by Congress - if schools didn't release such information to the military, they'd lose federal funding. Of course, this makes it easier for the military to push recruitment in the public schools. There is a loophole, though - high schools don't have to release such information on a student if his or her parents fill out a form to "opt out" of the regulations.
Well, 91 percent of all high-school parents in Montclair who got such forms filled them out - and 92 percent of those parents who did fill them out chose to opt out of the program. This happened largely in part because of students organizing to protest the policy.
Peace activists won a battle, but the war against such moronism merrily goes on. :-(
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