Why keep ROTC off high-school and college campuses? Because the crux of the purpose of education is to struggle for the truth. The US military and the truth have only contradiction in common. After all, the first rule of the military is deception. The practice of the US military is to heap one small lie on another: Vietnam is a domino, body counts, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Al-Queda running the Iraqi resistance, the current promise of perpetual war is not about oil and imperial control but terrorism.

These small lies conceal a much bigger one of concern to educators: The vast majority of US troops are fighting the enemies of their real enemies, dying to protect the lavish lives of incredibly rich US elites, suffering terrible wounds battling on the wrong side of an international war of the rich on the poor. Teachers and communities should not join in schooling that promotes the kind of nationalism that turns education into a pipeline for voluntary servitude.

Dr Rich Gibson

Emeritus Professor of Education

San Diego State University