NECN:
There is a brewing controversy in Worcester centering around whether or not high school students should give U.S. Military recruiters their personal contact information. Brianne Mallaghan has more.
WORCESTER— A local coalition’s attempts to persuade more high school students to withhold their contact information from military recruiters has spurred a Westboro man to fund a competing contest.
Edward F. Behn of Westboro, whose oldest son is a U.S. Marine serving in Iraq, has offered to donate $2,500 to the Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust in honor of the Worcester high school senior class with the lowest percentage of students who “opt out” of allowing information about themselves to be provided to recruiters.
Editorial cartoon about the project.
Clive McFarlane, of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, writes:
But how long will the country remain great, when young people, instead of being given an opportunity to discuss and debate issues such as the role of the military, the just-war theory and pacifism, are being told that the freedom and rights that they now enjoy can be bought for $250.
I’m not sure what “freedom and rights” are being bought here. But read the article for yourself.
The Worcester Student Privacy Coalition recently launched a student privacy awareness campaign for the 2006-07 school year.
The campaign aims to make high school students aware that they can “opt out” of having their school send their personal information to military recruiters.
On October 4, we announced our “Opt Out Contest,” offering a $250 cash prize to the Worcester Junior or Senior class with the highest percentage of students requesting to “opt out” prior to the November 15th contest deadline. That’s right, $250 for your class when you stand-up in favor of students’ rights.
Building on the efforts of several student and privacy groups that sought to raise awareness last year, this year’s effort is an attempt to capture significant attention on behalf of protecting students’ privacy. Across the country students, parents, privacy advocates and others are saying “No” to the loss of privacy high school students face when their personal information is given without their consent to military recruiters.
Any student or group at one of Worcester’s five high schools (North, South, Burncoat, Doherty, and Voke) may register their class for this educational competition.
If you’re interested in registering your class, download the Worcester Opts Out contest packet (PDF) which includes contest guidelines, posters, and an opt-out form. Educate your classmates about the importance of privacy protection, and encourage them to sign and turn in an opt out letter instructing your school principal to withold your name, address, and phone numbers from prying eyes.
In 2005, Leciester High School’s Senior class led area schools with 73% of students opting out. Protect your rights, protect your privacy; join students across the Commonwealth and country who are saying “No!”
For more information, contact optout.admin@gmail.com.
Article in February 12 Worcester Telegram & Gazette, mentioning this site:
WORCESTER— The number of Worcester high school students who withhold their contact information from military recruiters has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years, an increase that roughly coincides with when the school started sending parents an opt-out letter.
[…]
The percentage of Worcester high school seniors who opted out this year ranges from 41.4 percent at Burncoat High School to 13.9 percent at South, but an education specialist for the Army recruiting battalion that includes Worcester recently estimated that as many as 50 percent of high school students in the region choose not to release their information.
It is absolutely clear, based on Worcester Indymedia research, that when fully and clearly informed, significant numbers of students and their parents choose to opt out. 44.6 percent of all students at David Prouty High School in Spencer opted out this year; and an amazing 73.1 of the Class of 2006 at Leicester High School has opted out. But while you find high percentages of students opting out in Spencer and Leicester, neighboring Auburn High School reports that zero of their students opted out this year! The chasm between these numbers is better understood when we review the notification processes used by each school.
Read the full article at Indymedia.
Kevin and I had a good conversation with a local reporter this week. Part of it went something like this:
Reporter: Are you a pacifist?
Mike: This is a privacy issue.
Reporter: Because people are saying, “It’s just a bunch of pacifists driving this.”
Kevin: Then all the members of Congress are pacifists. They’re the ones who wrote and passed the opt-out law.