This 2015 document, a report by the American Friends Service Committee/Western Massachusetts Program, delves into the American military recruitment practices in this region. The first of its kind in the state, the Quakers created the report in order to inform parents, school committee members and others about the realities of the environment in which their children are being raised. The executive summary begins with two telling quotes:
“There are public health reasons to be concerned about military recruitment in public elementary and secondary schools. Adolescent recruitment targets are at a vulnerable stage of brain development and may experience adverse health consequences from stress. Given their limitations in judging risk at this stage in life, they are also unable to fully evaluate the consequences of making a choice to enter the military.”
~ The American Public Health Association
“You recruit children in their own schools? Children? Even Saddam did not do that.”
~Faiza Al-Araji, Iraqi author, blogger and activist
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