Recruitment Opt Out question

[woodsprite]

I'm filling out papers for my daughter - 12yo going into 7th grade. She's in a charter school that gets a bombardment of recruiters beginning mid-year for 7th graders choosing high schools. We don't have a charter highschool that they regularly feed into, so the highschools - including the military school - come to recruit.

I was thinking of printing and signing an opt out letter for her to take in with her contact/medical form. Checked out Kos' site and it said to print out one letter for the school and send one to the Pentagon (http://pinche-tejano.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/8/16/19366/1884), then it said it was for kids 16 yrs and up.

Should I even do it now? Do you think that one to the school superintendent would be enough? I certainly don't want to HAND them info. It says secondary schools, but if military schools are already looking at them as prospects.... well, Anybody else in the same situation?

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Do what Kos says - Send them both

Cover all the bases.

[noamnety]

2. Do it

And advise her not to take the ASVAB if her school has everyone do it, because they will get the info from that as well - along with what her interests are ... the better to recruit you with.

[woodsprite]

4. What's the ASVAB? Never heard of it. n/t

[soup]

9. Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery

More about it here:
http://www.military.com/ASVAB

[Craig3410]

16. Seconded... that's why the recruiters kept calling my house.

Even if her school "says" it's required, tell her not to take it.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

3. Somewhere this weekend

I saw a magazine cover talking about how the military is approaching middle school children, through mechanisms such as JROTC and the Young Marines. Big surprise: Most of the attention is focused on schools serving poor and minority children.

[lady lib]

5. I just did this for my daughter 2 days ago.

She's in 10th grade and the recruiters are definitely coming to her high school. I followed the instructions and sent BOTH; you should, too. We live in a huge district and the individual school registrar (not the superintendent's office) keeps track of the opt out forms. You'll have to call your superintendent's office to find out what the situation is for your child's school.

FYI, the registrar called to warn us that once our daughter has opted out, she cannot accept any gifts, i.e., t-shirts from the recruiters, or she will be put back on their list.

[woodsprite]

6. OK - She's reading this. I don't think accepting gifts

will be a problem. Her exact quote "I don't want any of their stupid t-shirts. I don't want to die." She said the guys in her class were really taken with the uniformed and armed officers from the Wilmington Military Academy that came there last year. One of the boys asked the soldier if it was a real gun --- DUH!!!

Last year they saw the officers in the hallway, so in 6th grade they weren't subjected to any presentations, etc.

[lady lib]

12. Smart girl!

How sick and pathetic is it that they're schmoozing 7th graders?

My daughter went to violin camp this summer and a military band came out to play for the kids. Of course, they followed that up with a recruitment speech. I called the camp director, and apparently she missed the performance and was surprised at what had followed. She actually believed they would just "entertain" the kids. I demanded prior notice and signed parental consent for next summer. She agreed, thank goodness.

[woodsprite]

13. My daughter has been playing the violin for 3 yrs.

The highschool that she wants to go to is the "Arts" magnate school. Thank goodness it's also the same school she would feed to from our development, so we don't have to go thru the 'choice' process (so frustrating). They changed the feeder patterns at the last minute this year. Hopefully it will stay the same for awhile.

[lady lib]

7. ASVAB...

http://www.todaysmilitary.com/ns/t5_ns_howtodecide.php
http://www.asvabprogram.com/
http://www.baseops.net/militarybooks/asvab/

[woodsprite]

8. ACK!!! Is there an opt out form for THAT test? n/t

[soup]

10. When asked, my son said, 'no thanks.'

and just didn't take it.

[woodsprite]

11. Jeesh! They're probably just rolling it in with

their standardized testing.

[Igel]

14. I liked the ASVAB.

It was a long time ago; they asked if I was interested in the military, I responded that I wasn't in the least interested.

There was no specific kind of skill that I did better on, so apparently I didn't fit into any slot. They never bothered me.

It was a great ego boost, though.

[noamnety]

15. Notice how the ASVAB site

does not even mention on the home page that it's related to the military.
http://www.asvabprogram.com/

One of my students said today that in her previous school all the 9th graders took the ASVAB, and she had no idea at all til today that it had anything to do with the military at all, or that the information went to recruiters.

[woodsprite]

17. Been looking at the docs,

Our daughter hadn't heard of the ASVAB, but she HAD heard of the Career Exploration Program from the counselor. She wrote down some notes from the sites you listed and was going to spread the info, along with the URL of the opt out forms, to her fellow students.

That CEP also rang a bell with me. It seems odd to me that they have an actual class call Group Guidance. So far, she said nothing has come up like that, but they are slated to begin discussing careers this year in prep for choosing high schools.

[blondeatlast]

20. I work in a public library, and it's interesting about the ASVAB...

We couldn't keep enough on the shelves before and especially after 9/11; the ASVAB preps were consistently one of the most frequently stolen items on our shelves.

We have bought with that in mind for years; last year we revised our buying quotas WAY down with no regrets whatsoever--ASVAB preps have become shelf-sitters.

Yes, DU, an "aptitude" test has many prep books available... :shrug:

[blondeatlast]

18. Loads of info here (Leave My Child Alone site):

http://www.leavemychildalone.org/

My son is only 8 and I share your concerns.

I'm seriously thinking of filling out the papers for him NOW.

[woodsprite]

19. I'm going to make sure I file another set when she starts highschool. n/t