Panel of Contributors: No Child act borrowed from Children's Defense Fund Panel of Contributors: No Child act borrowed from Children's Defense Fund (April 20, 2005)

By Henry Organ

The No Child Left Behind Act is troublesome.

Section 9528 of the act, titled, "Armed Forces Recruiter Access to Students and Student Recruiting Information," is a difficult bullet to bite.

Many readers know that the compassionate title, "Leave No Child Behind," was coined as the motto of the Children's Defense Fund by its CEO and founder, Marian Wright Edelman. (One of her children, Josh, once served as a teacher at Menlo-Atherton High School.)

The mission of the defense fund, according to its Web page, is "...to Leave No Child Behind and to ensure every child a 'Healthy Start,' a 'Head Start," a 'Fair Start," a 'Safe Start," and a 'Moral Start" in life...."

The most liberal interpretation of the defense fund's motto would never imply support for military recruiting in public secondary schools. It is diabolical and dishonest for the government to manipulate such a title in writing this section. It camouflages programs to recruit youth into armed services, under the rubric of promoting public education. If the government wants youth in the military, then it should be honest enough to state so in clear text.

Education and military service have nothing in common, and the latter should not be joined in this act. Bullets and books should not be joined. There is nothing healthy, advanced, fair, safe or moral about military service that can lead to loss of limb and life.

The act also provides an exception, however, and does not allow recruiters at private secondary schools that maintain "...a religious objection to service in the armed forces...." While this exception may appear commendable, I take issue with it, in part. Objection to service need not be exclusively on "religious" grounds, but may be on moral grounds; a religion may not be required.

Thus, if the armed forces demand equal access to public secondary schools, then perhaps the schools should also allow access for conscientious objection organizations.

As I review this act, I reflect back on my brief tour of duty on the Sequoia Union High School District board of trustees in the late '1960s. I believe I would have made a motion, probably firing a blank, that the board adopt a resolution of denunciation of this section. Public school grounds should be "no war zones." Henry Organ lives in Menlo Park and is a member of the Almanac's Panel of Contributors.

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