Conference lgp30::christian-perspective

>"The idea of education is �*to try to make
>people think critically," said David Freeman of the committee.  "The aim of
>the military is to try to make people follow orders blindly."
    
    As the son of a Naval officer and brother of someone who attended (for
    two years) the Naval Acadamy my first reaction is that Mr Freeman
    has no understanding of military training at all. Critical thinking
    is of major importance to the American military.
    
    			Alfred

    As someone who has spent a fairly large chunk of his life
 in uniform this topic leaves me with mixed feelings.
    As Alfred wrote, critical thinking is a vital skill to someone
 in the military. Contrary to what some think men and women in the
 service are not robots.
    On the other hand it is absolutely true that there are many situations
 where you are trained and drilled to the point that you will perform
 without thinking. You will react, you'll function like a well tuned machine,
 but you will not think. Because if you did, you'd never do what you are
 supposed to at that time.
    The aftermath of of behaving in such a manner is hard to describe.
 When you realize what has happened it's horribly frightening. 
    You are brought face to face with an aspect of your humanity that
 is not pleasant.
    None of us likes to think that we can be so "programmed" that to
 a great extent you lose what makes you an individual. Anyone who has
 survived a military boot camp knows what it is like to have your
 personal identity systematically stripped away.
    I am not that familiar with high school ROTC. I seriously doubt that
 there is the type of intensive training that active duty personal are
 subjected to in order to get them to the "beyond thinking" stage.
    Perhaps the one thing these students need to be told is just what
 a strain it is to be able to balance both aspects of military life.
 The need to be clear thinking, analytical, logical and the willingness to
 to allow yourself to be trained to disregard all of that and respond
 exactly as you have been trained to.
    This is not true of just the military either. Police, Firefighters and
 EMT's and emergency room personal in hospitals all have the problem.
    Not surprisingly, all of these groups have very high rates of alcohol
 and drug abuse, metal health and marital problems.
    Sorry for rambling on so and drifting so far of the topic.


                                             
    
                                                       Mike 
    

    First thing that came to my mind when I read .0 was how shocked we
    Americans were back in the fifties when we seen cold war propaganda
    films of Soviet Students in military uniforms. The one that is clear in
    my mind is a Soviet boy standing at the blackboard explaining to the
    class a math problem. He had his uniform and military haircut and
    looked very disciplined. I never dreamed the we would see the same thing
    in the U.S.A.


    Anyone who thinks the military develops good citizens hasn't been in
    the military. In the Marines, we were trained to hate civilians.

    Peace
    Jim

I believe that the full text of the article is missing. For
example, Belboa High School mentioned is in San Francisco while
the other school ( ML King) is in Newerk (NJ??). My experience
when working with oriental kids in the San francisco school
district is that the immigrant seeks very much to be accepted;
either in gangs or structured groups as in ROTC or scouts or
clubs.

How this bears on a Christian perspective is any one's guess.
Only perhaps on the ethics of the military.

If this is where this note is heading, let's take a perspective
at Christopher Columbus. He is celibrated as a person with deep
interest in trade with China. To the American natives, he is the
first to exploit the human rights of native Americans. To the
Chinese, he is instrumental with expanding the trade with China
until the late mid 1900's when the trade deficit between England
and China was so high that England forced the Opium products of
Colonial India onto China to ease the balance of trade with
China. When the Chinese, the British sent in their gun-boats and
troopers and forced concessions from the Quing Dynasty of China.

From a Christian perspective, Christianity as an off shoot of the
westerners into China along with it's education process. A
positive perspective. There are also negatives.

calvin

    How *does* this relate to Christianity?  What is *your* (generic
    "your") Christian perspective on this?
    
    First, for me, I think "brainwashing" of any kind is uncalled for in public
    education.  I am particularly suspect of any point of view given to
    *children* that is biased in favor of the military.  I don't believe
    that this kind of approach to military (JROTC) belongs in public
    schools any more than religious proselytizing does!
     
    Second, whether it is conscious or intentional or not, I believe racism
    is playing a significant role here and that *that* is (or should be) a
    major Christian concern!
    
    Finally, re: the last paragraph:
    
>   	Anthony E. Ramirez, principal at Balboa High School, who went
    >through a JROTC program when he was in high school said, "You know that
    >old expression, 'I found a home in the Army,'" he said.  "There is a
    >sense of family that can develop out of this program."
    
    ... I sadly ask:  "Where is the Church to meet this need????"
    
    Nancy

    To someone who is involved with the Religious Society of Friends
    (Quakers), all issues that involve the military are *religious* issues. 
    
    -- Mike