Disparity

Knowing the suburban and urban schools are different is by no stretch of the imagination a new concept for me; I witnessed a lot of that both in my own education and further work in schools. I just never cease to be amazed at the vast difference in schools. In Enora R. Brown's article I actually had to go back and read about the Mountainview school because it was hard to believe that it was actually a public school.

This concept of militarism is something that worries me quite a bit. When I was in high school I worked with students from Bradley Tech high school in Milwaukee and was shocked when they told me they have a full time military recruiter in their school. And obviously, my suburban school still had a military recruiter in our lunch room several times a year, having push up contests to try to drum up interest in the military; but to think that they have someone in their school everyday pushing for students to join the military. There are obvious racial targeting for the military and it really sickens me; if you go to any of the world festivals at the Summerfest grounds over the summer you will notice that the only two that have a large military recruitment presence are African World Festival and Mexican Fiesta. Meanwhile, John Kerry gets chastised a couple of years ago for saying:

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq."

This is the hiring practices of the military, as well as recruiting people of color, yet when anyone in the mainstream media says anything he's labeled as unpatriotic. Now, I understand that the military is an option and it gives opportunity to many people that otherwise couldn't afford to go to school, but when schools are treating students like they're soldiers from the time they are very young, like they do at the school that I work at, then its time for someone to say something.

Especially, after listening to John Mccain the other day state in the same debate that he said he wanted teachers to be held more accountable, that he wanted to support the troops to teachers movement. Yet, when he stated that, he made it sound like a way to get around pesky examinations and certifications. So let me get this straight, we train our black students to act like soldiers, then we send them to Iraq and when they come back they teach in our schools; sounds like a great way to keep an entire group of people from moving up in the world.