Canadian Forces Banned from Schools - Part II

Funding for increased recruitment is a sticky point despite the fact that young students recruited by anti-military coalitions, the media, and even professionals like Pelissier would like to point the finger away from money and dwell instead on the politics of what is going on currently in Afghanistan. "'It's time to drop fees, not bombs,' says Dylan Penner, Executive Director of ACT for the Earth, and coordinator of Operation Objection. ("Pickets Friday at Recruiting Offices")

The Campagne d'opposition au recrutement tells students that at a time when post-secondary tuition is at its highest point ever, it is wrong that students from low income backgrounds may have to learn to kill in order to afford an education. "'Military recruitment is using tax payers' dollars to lure young Canadians in economically vulnerable positions into being part of dangerous misadventures in places like Afghanistan and Haiti,' stated Joady Jardine, an activist with the Fredericton Peace Coalition, University of New Brunswick Social Justice Society and a third year student in the Women's Studies department at St. Thomas University in Fredericton." ("Pickets Friday at Recruiting Offices") Alain Pellissier of the teacher's union CSQ mentions several times in a CBC interview how the military has a very big budget, but rather than providing an accurate figure he says that it is "billions and billions of dollars," putting the Ministry of Defense in stark contrast with other government departments and agencies he claims simply don't have the funds to compete. ("Military recruitment")

In point of fact, Canada has budgeted $20 billion for the 2009-2010 year for its military - only 1.14 percent of its GDP. This places it at 111th in the world - up from 132nd in 2005. (Wikipedia) As for the cost of education, I hardly have to remind the reader that pretty much every expense associated with living and growing is today at a very high point.

Quebec tuitions, though, have long been among the lowest in Canada. War Free Schools states that Quebec's tuition fees rose from $1,550 in 1993-94 to $1,900 in 2005-06. Statistics for the country showed an average hike of more than 100 percent, and some provinces saw fees increase by well over $3,000. Quebec showed both the smallest increase, and by far the lowest tuition. ("War free schools") While there may be an overall concern about the cost of education, Quebec's young people have many free or low-cost options for post-secondary education. They need not run into the arms of the military in order to learn a trade or earn a degree.

Military Values: Teacher's Union Representative Declares Military No Longer a Noble Profession

Pellissier places great emphasis on Quebec's schools being a safe place and of a curriculum reaching back decades, that teaches such concepts as peace and sustainable development. I'm sure each of us who has been educated in Quebec or had children educated in its schools will have our own reflections on such a statement. One does have to wonder just what is so threatening about military recruiters offering information or cadets using a school gym after hours, if the schools are the safe place Pelissier talks about in the name of UNESCO. Further, why would he be so concerned about any sum of money being lost to programs aimed at resolving bullying and violence if this peaceful atmosphere were a decades old reality?

To be sure, Pellissier emphasizes that the military should not be in Afghanistan and that the coalition he represents feels strongly Canada should withdraw from the conflict. But doing so would not change the training of a military recruit. So while a re-dedication to Peacekeeping missions might somewhat redeem the Canadian Forces in the eyes of the coalition, it isn't likely to mean they would suddenly welcome the military recruiters into Quebec's classrooms with open arms. Pelissier says that the military is the only profession in which killing is part of every person's training and hastens to say that it can't be compared to any other career, including law enforcement. ("Military recruitment") This statement betrays a longstanding disdain, which perhaps has only recently found an expression that the public will accept without question.

Military Values: Promoting Scholarship, Respect and Excellence

Remi Landry, also interviewed on The Current, is a former soldier who today teaches as the Université de Montréal's Research Group on International Security. He speaks about his own recruitment experience, beginning with information about educational opportunities when he was in his later high school years. He emphasized that there were certain expectations that he had to meet, just to be able to gain entrance to the Royal Military College. One can tell that as a young student he pushed himself to excel so he could reach that goal. This sense of motivation is echoed in an article written by a Toronto journalist who in 2006 visited a special military co-op program that allows students to get hands-on experience while earning school credits.

"The atmosphere in the classroom at Moss Park Armoury," writes Andrew Cash, "is certainly not what you'd find walking into your local high school. Sitting erect in army fatigues and polished boots, each student/soldier has a beret neatly folded at the top left corner of their desk and a water canteen at the top right. All eyes are on the similarly clad and erect instructor at the front. There is a focus in the room a high school math teacher could only dream of. As I watch from the back, I find I'm sitting up straighter myself and writing my notes neater." ("Fast times at Machine Gun High")

Cash does not exactly leave his reader with the impression that he was entirely pleased with the interest he found the young participants had in their co-op program, and his discomfort with recruitment in high schools is obvious from the outset of his article. But one does have to give him credit for pointing out the advantages of the military option - with its well paid work and subsidized education - versus the part-time fast food jobs most young people can expect to find after high school.

Unlike Pelissier he also grasps that, although the money the military puts into programs for youth is not going directly into drop-out prevention or anti-bullying initiatives, it will have a positive impact on both issues. Military programs like the co-op and the cadets Pelissier would also banish from our schools provide young people with opportunities to learn and experience things they would not otherwise come across. They also instill in young people a desire to achieve more, a discipline and focus they may not have had before, and a respect for themselves and others. Five minutes spent in a public school classroom or cafeteria is, indeed, very different from those same five minutes spent in the local armoury while cadets and other young people are about their tasks.

Sources:

Campagne d'opposition au recrutement militaire web site

"Canadian Forces" Wikipedia

"Do the Canadian Armed Forces have a place in schools?" CTV News

"Fast times at Machine Gun High" Andrew Cash (NOW)

"'Get out of our schools,' military recruiters told" Brenda Branswell (The Gazette)

"Military recruitment" The Current (CBC Radio One)

"Military under fire for on-campus recruiting" Kathryn Blaze Carlson (National Post)

"Pickets Friday at Recruiting Offices" The Christian Radical

Operation Objection web site

"War free schools" ACT for the Earth