Longstanding Military Leadership Program Faces Uncertain Future
San Francisco’s JROTC programs instill APA youth with life skills, but school board members contend the military has no place in their schools.
Crystal Zhou was a quiet student before she earned her uniform. A sturdy belt cinched around a dark green coat with badges of honor stitched to the sleeves empowered the 17-year-old from San Francisco’s Lowell High School to march to a beat of her own drum, literally. Zhou is in the drum corps of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC), a longstanding district program that may get eliminated this year.
San Francisco Board of Education commissioners will vote Nov. 8 — the same week as the Veterans Day holiday — on a resolution to ban the military style programs from its schools because of the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on openly gay individuals in the Armed Services.
JROTC programs, which receive 50 percent federal funding from the Department of Defense, are designed to introduce teenagers to military style exercises that teach discipline, leadership and teamwork. Students can choose to enroll in JROTC to fulfill physical education requirements. But program opponents question the appropriateness of having any type of military presence in schools.
On Lowell’s grassy field, Zhou and about 100 of her JROTC peers practice the rhythmic steps of military formations and work up a sweat beating on drums. After the last bell releases students onto the streets, Zhou and members of her Delta Company stay on campus to compete against each other in drills. About 90 percent of her fellow cadets are Asian Pacific American, she said.
“Before I joined, I saw a lot of people marching around and I thought that’s all th
ey did,” said Zhou, a four-year JROTC member, who said she has learned much more than marching including lessons in basic first aid skills and map-reading “in case you get lost.”
“If there were no ROTC I would have nowhere to go,” said Kenneth Deng, 17, another Lowell JROTC cadet. In four years, he’s learned life skills like how to become a better public speaker, financial planning and setting time management goals. In JROTC class, he teaches underclassmen how to drill.
JROTC supporters say these leadership exercises are imperative to students, especially young APAs. Participants also have a higher rate of graduation and higher grade point averages, they say.
“I think it’s a beneficial program for Asian youth because Asian youth lack leadership. They lack role models,” said Nelson Lum, a Vietnam veteran and a member of the American Legion’s Cathay Post, who points out that APAs are usually taught to be strong academically, but are not usually schooled in leadership.
“Asian Americans have cultural differences. A lot of us always say that we used to be really quiet and sat in the back of the class, but after joining the JROTC we stand tall and sit at the front of the class,” said Zhou. “ROTC helps bring out the loud side of us.”
The programs’ proponents say that over 70 percent of the city’s JROTC cadets are APAs and a cut would be detrimental to the already marginalized community.
“If these programs are to be abolished without after school activities, what happens to these kids?” said Lum.
The JROTC programs run deep in American history since its establishment in 1916 as a part of the National Defense Act. Under provisions of the act, high schools are allowed to use military equipment and military personnel as instructors. Currently, JROTC has about 1,600 students in seven San Francisco high schools.
Opponents like Dr. Dan Kelly, an incumbent in the San Francisco school board race, calls the JROTC a “branding tool” for the military that needs to be removed. They also accuse the JROTC of recruiting students for the military.
“It teaches students to draw their self-worth through identification with the organization. Its curriculum is thin and it does not meet state or district standards. Its teachers are not credentialed, but are compensated at much higher rates than our regular staff. It discriminates against [Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual and Transgender] adults and students in a variety of ways because of the military’s ban on openly gay members,” said Kelly, a 16 year San Francisco School Board veteran.
Opponents say the JROTC also targets low-income students and English language learners. A 2005 study by the University of California, Los Angeles Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (IDEA) revealed that the higher the number of minority, low-income and immigrant students in the school the more likely the school would have a JROTC program.
“Certainly, it is important for all young people to learn about the military. As adults, they will be called upon to vote for representatives who in turn will make decisions about whether or not to send this country to war and how much to spend on the U.S. Military. But such learning is best done in classes with trained teachers who can promote free and open dialogue about the military rather than military officials who are intent on acquiring new recruits,” said John Rogers, UCLA professor and IDEA co-director.
This isn’t the first time the JROTC programs have come under fire. In 1994, a hazing incident at another San Francisco school that resulted in injury and a lawsuit spurred scrutiny of the programs and several other failed attempts at a ban.
Since then, the threat of being cut has been hanging over their heads, but now the threat is coming to a head, said Lt. Col. Douglas Bullard, Lowell’s JROTC instructor.
Discriminatory policies like “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” do not exist in the ROTC and instructors are restricted from recruiting, supporters say.
But Zhou admits there is a misconception out there about the JROTC being just about the Army.
“I tell my friends, ‘You see me right? I have no interest in the Army whatsoever,’” said Zhou, who wants to become a surgeon.
“The district receives federal funding. The federal government discriminates a thousand ways, so why are they targeting the ROTC?” said Bullard. He also questions the motives of the board’s haste to go to vote.
Current board members Sarah Lipson and Eddie Chin are terming out and not running again. The move to vote before January, when new board members take office, is being heavily criticized.
“To vote on this as a lame duck board is really cowardly,” said Bullard.
A crowd of about 1,100 rallied at city hall Oct. 25 in support of the JROTC.
“I personally feel this is a different form of discrimination. If this program were 72 percent African American or gay and lesbian, they wouldn’t try to ban it. It’s because there is this perception that Asian Americans are silent. There’s no fear of any retribution,” said Lum.
Print This Article-
Email This Article