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According to this Fox News article (San Francisco Values Front and Center), the San Francisco Board of Education voted 4-2 to ban JROTC (Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) from San Francisco high schools. Why the board would vote to ban this valuable organization is beyond me.

JROTC is far from a hostile organization. In fact, here is a quote from the JROTC website:

The United States Army’s Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, or JROTC, is designed to teach high school students the value of citizenship, leadership, service to the community, personal responsibility, and a sense of accomplishment, while instilling in them self-esteem, teamwork, and self-discipline. Its focus is reflected in its mission statement, “To motivate young people to be better citizens.”

Essentially, the San Francisco Board of Education decided to ban a high school club that desires to help high school kids “be better citizens.”

My sister (now a Captain in the U.S. Army) could probably vouch for JROTC. It helped her throughout high school, and it helped her land an ROTC scholarship that helped pay for her college. Although JROTC isn’t necessary to get a ROTC scholarship, JROTC does provide the foundation that is needed to step into ROTC at a later point.

I’m assuming here, but I imagine that the San Francisco Board of Education banned JROTC because the board concluded that JROTC is influencing youngsters to join the Army military. The people of San Francisco have already voted to ban military recruiters from high schools and college campuses; banning JROTC from high schools is putting the last nail into the recruiting coffin.

What I don’t understand is that the San Francisco Board of Education decided to ban a “voluntary” club that high schoolers “choose” to join. Bill O’Reilly (in his article) stated that the Board of Education’s decision is one big double standard. He said that if a “gay club” was banned, the ACLU would be throwing a fit. I agree that the San Francisco Board of Education used poor judgment in banning JROTC from high schools. After all, it is these youngsters that JROTC tries to train into the leaders that may potentially defend the state of California (or even the country) by joining the National Guard or the Army.

It is understandable that Bill O’Reilly and San Francisco do not get along. After military recruiters were banned from high schools and college campuses, Bill said that he would welcome San Francisco becoming its own country. His logic was that if San Francisco is so anti-military, then the U.S. should cut them off from all military aid completely — essentially leaving San Francisco wide open for invasion or even a terrorist attack.

I don’t agree that the military should “cut off” San Francisco. Fortunately, the United States military doesn’t choose which states it should defend upon attack. If any of the United States is attacked, it’s the same as if rest of the country is being attacked. If you don’t agree with me, think back to September 11th, 2001 and how the whole country reacted.

I also don’t agree with San Francisco banning JROTC in high schools. JROTC is a character-building high school club. Why, out of all of the clubs to choose from, did San Francisco decide to ban JROTC? What exactly was the reasoning?

Bill O’Reilly calls for the elimination of federal aid to all San Francisco schools until recruiters are allowed and JROTC is reinstated. Although a little extreme, I’d have to agree with O’Reilly on this issue. If San Francisco refuses to support the United States military, then the United States should cut off its federal funding to the city’s schools. This would hurt a lot of kids in the short-term, but it will get the message across that you can’t expect support if you aren’t willing to give any in return.

That’s my 500 Words.

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2. Should We Let Illegals Into the Military?
3. Religion in Public Schools
4. Did General Petraeus Betray Us?
5. Monthly Survey: Gays in the Military?