Recognizing Military-Bound Seniors
Yesterday the NYT had an article about high schools honoring graduating seniors who are headed for duty in the armed services.
High schools across the nation are saluting students who opt for boot camp over freshman orientation, rewriting graduation traditions in suburban communities like [New Jersey's] Cherry Hill. These military recruits, long overshadowed by their Ivy League-bound classmates, are being given a place of honor alongside the valedictorians and scholars.
The Lenape regional district in New Jersey started a new awards ceremony for those joining the armed services, and on Long Island, Longwood High School has created a “wall of honor” with plaques dedicated to recent graduates and alumni on active duty; there are 52 so far.
In Oregon and Washington State, 237 seniors started a new tradition of wearing honor cords of black and gold at their graduation ceremonies to signify their Army future.
And across Illinois, dozens of schools have signed on to a campaign to honor enlisted students at graduation that is supported by the state’s principals association and political leaders.
According to the Times, these recognitions are welcomed by the school communities. As the wife of a veteran and a mom of a daughter on active duty, I think it’s terrific that patriotic kids who are volunteering to serve–especially in wartime– are publicly recognized and honored.
In a country that has been at war for nearly nine years, principals and students at highly regarded suburban schools say that interest has been growing in the military — and not just in West Point and the other academies that traditionally attract top students.
As to be expected, there are the parents and anti-war groups that complain that honoring the kids who’ll be serving glorifies war and that it signals school support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nonsense.
Not so expected, though, is this:
Indeed, military recruiting is often discouraged because it could lower a school’s college-acceptance rate — a highly prized statistic that can be linked to real estate values.
All in all, the coverage of the events themselves was great.
But the New York Times being the New York Times, it couldn’t help beginning and ending the article with a focus on the C students and the not-quite-overtly-stated idea that military service is a choice only for the less-than-stellar student. They’re being recognized, according to the Times, “alongside the…scholars,” leaving readers to wrongly conclude that military-bound students aren’t scholars–quite often top scholars– too.
