Students must know about alternatives to the military

Editor,

With 30 dead and counting, New Mexico is paying the price of war with our lives. Fewer New Mexican high school students are enrolling at UNM, but with enticing war propaganda and in-house military recruiters on high school campuses, military enlistment goals have been met. Organizations like the SouthWest Organizing Project and Another Side have been reaching out to students to educate them about the harsh reality of the military and alternative careers and higher education.

Albuquerque Public Schools administrators have consistently denied students the opportunity to hear another side of military enlistment. We pushed for a study to be done on whether students have access to organizations that provide information about alternatives. Originally scheduled to be reported in January, the study results have been delayed for four months. After SWOP and Another Side demanded the results be heard immediately, the school board moved the meeting to today.

Lucia Martinez - an incoming freshman at Albuquerque High School - said, "I feel bombarded with all the information the military pushes on me. Even when I don't put my information out there, they still find me."

The APS high school administration gives us the run around when trying to access students and teachers. It is scared to let us present alternative perspectives on the military. Now it is looking to arm APS school guards again. Our public schools are run by fear and the perpetuation of violence, and that is no place for young people to develop.

Rodrigo Rodriguez, an SWOP member and CNM student, said, "Our students are being recruited and shipped off to fight in a war half a world away, and the school board is sitting by idly, doing nothing. Our students deserve to be able to make well-informed decisions about their futures, especially when it comes to something as life-altering as military enlistment."

The Albuquerque School Board Policy Committee will be reporting the results of an equal access study that was done by the principals of our public high schools at 5 p.m. today. The meeting will take place at 6400 Uptown Blvd. N.E., in the DeLayo-Martin Community Room. The study was requested to investigate whether equal access is being provided to organizations that are working to provide alternatives to the military.

M¢nica C¢rdova

Youth Coordinator,

SouthWest Organizing Project