Three students at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough were sent to an in-school suspension classroom when they refused to take a military aptitude test.
More than 300 juniors at the school took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) on Feb. 13. According to the News & Observer, “The military provides the tests, proctors and grading without charge. In exchange, the scores are sent to military branch recruiters and the school.”
Principal Gary Thornburg is quoted as saying, “I don’t have a lot of patience with people who are refusing to take the assessment — or refusing anything that their entire grade level is participating in.”
N.C. Department of Public Instruction spokesperson Linda Fuller says that the state does not encourage schools to give the ASVAB to students who have not expressed an interest in the military.
In other Triangle school districts — including Durham, Wake and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, as well as Orange High School — students must sign up for the test voluntarily rather than opt out of the exam.
Even though Principal Thornburg insists that the three students were not being punished by being sent to the ISS classroom, is it fair to force the entire junior class to take this military exam instead of offering the exam to only those students who want to take it and be considered for military service?
What do you think the relationship between our local schools and military recruiters should be?
2 responses so far ↓
1 hepstyle // Mar 4, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Do you mean Cedar Ridge High?
I think it’s reprehensible to force students to take the ASVAB. But at the same time, if those three students refused to take it, what do you do? You can’t send them home, you can’t leave them in the classroom while other studenst are testing. Perhaps they could have been sent to the library or the cafeteris or something. I’m not convinced that they were sent to ISS as punishment. Regardless, the test should have been optional.
2 bluespirit // Apr 3, 2008 at 12:14 pm
It is absolutely unacceptable to force students to take a military recruiting exam. We don’t force students to take the SAT and other College entrance exams, so why should we force them to take military entrance exams? We should not waste an entire day of learning for military exams that should be volunteer. High schools do not offer the SAT in the middle of the school days to my knowledge, so it seems to me this school is saying the military option is more important than going to college.
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