A.  Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to explain to high school students what recruiters don't tell you.

B.  Materials: All materials are at this web site. They include:

  1. Rationale
  2. Information Cards (28)
  3. Visuals (18)
  4. Handout of Readings (one per student)
  5. Teacher Directions and Questions for Students
C.  Procedure: The length of this Lesson Plan depends on the amount of discussion for each section. It will range from approximately 50 minutes to 100 minutes.
 
Information Cards – Each card includes different information on one of the following topics: recruitment, deaths of U.S. troops, effects on the families of U.S. killed, U.S. wounded, Iraqi civilian deaths and injuries, U.S. psychologically wounded and the military contract. The information on the cards comes from sources such as: NY Times, Christian Science Monitor, SF Chronicle, Washington Post.

At the beginning of class, the teacher distributes 28 cards to students. We used green cardstock paper. Each student reads a card when his/her number is called.

Handout of Readings – Make enough copies of these handouts for each student in the class. Thus, every student is able to read and follow along as each card is read. The readings (7 to 8 pages depending on your browser and printer) include all that is on the 28 information cards.

Visuals – Visuals are in order of use, and Teacher Directions explains when and how to use them.

Rationale

Essential Question: What is it military recruiters
and media recruiting don't tell you?

Whereas, No Child Left Behind legislation mandates that school districts receiving federal funds send the military names, phone numbers and addresses of all high school seniors and grants recruiters access to students on high school campuses and

Whereas, the 2004 overall military recruiting budget approached $4 billion to recruit 77,000 people and

Whereas, the military recruiting budget in 2005 will reach or exceed $4 billion to recruit at least 80,000 and

Whereas, the military advertises on television, on MTV and provides downloading of video games on the Internet aimed at those 13 - 21 and

Whereas, the California History Content Standards require students to "understand the nature of war and its human costs (military and civilian) on all sides of the conflict" and

Whereas, the National Standards for Civics and Government states, "Political communication: television, radio, the press, and political persuasion." Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on the influence of the media on American political life. To achieve this standard, students should be able to:
  • Evaluate historical and contemporary political communication using such criteria as logical validity, factual accuracy, emotional appeal, distorted evidence, appeals to bias or prejudice, e.g.,
  • Government wartime information programs, campaign advertisements.
  • Therefore, it is incumbent on social studies teachers to raise this essential question (What is it military recruiters and media recruiting don't tell you?) with their students.

Who We Are

We are three retired San Francisco public high school teachers who are also mothers and grandmothers. When Julia Ward Howe wrote the original Mother's Day Proclamation in 1872, she said, "Why do not the mothers of mankind interfere in these matters, to prevent the waste of that human life which they alone bear and know the cost?" This lesson plan is our attempt to prevent the waste of our own and other mothers' children.

Irene Creps, Gail Dent, Adrienne Sciutto
Mother's Day, May 8, 2005