Introduction
Research Topic and Research Question
The research labors to find out the effects of recruiting army officers in high school. Upon finding out the effects of recruiting the officers at the tender age, it then sets to answer the question,
Should the government abandon recruitment of army officers in high school?
Justification of the Research
Following the inception of “No Child Left Behind” Act of the year 2002, recruiters of the United States military personnel have access to all schools that receive State funds to target recruitment of high school children. The act targets to recruit students aged between 14 to 18 years to join the American armed forces. The act of recruiting the military personnel from high schools has grown in vigor and aggression, the phenomenon is not specific to the United States as United Kingdom already has a third of its armed forces recruited at an age less than 18 years. Supporters of the move appreciate the significant position the military holds in the historical development and sustenance of American socio-economic status. They believe in the process of making the military strong and reliable needs to take all angles and consider all available options. While the recruitment of high school teenagers may hold a bright future for the army, the long term effects on the adolescent military personnel stand several risks.
It is true that school children have the entitlement to a variety of career information. Potential roles in the military and armed forces is not an exception to the career opportunities teenagers and young adults should get access to. The school gives students guidance on the paths of career they can prosper in as well as an opportunity to interact with their future employers. The proponents argue that from age in memory, nationalism has been an integral portion of school curricula . They say there is no prominent paradigm shift from the already widely accepted shows of loyalty like citation of the Lord’s Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance to include recruitment in schools. However, there is absolutely no need to preach military prospects to the youth while in a trusting environment such as the schools. Permitting organizations to advertise their job prospects to the children when their critical faculties are nascent is misguiding. Recitation of the Lord’s Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance promote American students’ nationalism. Taking the step higher to get children to join the military for this simple fact disrupts and threatens the promising career paths for children.
These factors make the question of recruiting army officers in high school a topic that is worth re-examining. It was a bright idea to have the defense forces of the country get easy access to enthusiasts of national service, but did not put into account the adverse effects of including adolescents with shaky emotional and hormonal balance in such an important department of the government. In addition, the decision to have teenagers and young adults did not put into account psychological influences of such a young population protecting the country. The navy, army and marines need well educated, motivated recruits to keep the legacy of the nation. There is fear that the pool of potential military recruits shrinks and high school provides the only hope to keep the high numbers needed. The young adolescents must get the chance to intensify and diversify their choices including the military. However, the need for recruits does not necessitate school recruitment. Whereas there are students who may be genuinely interested in joining the army, recruiters can use other settings to reach the interested. There is need to assess the impacts of these concerns on the targeted population by recruiting officers.
Literature Review
The most significant argument in support of military recruitment in high schools is the fact that young people are never ignorant of what they place themselves into when they accept to join the military at tender ages. There is an argument that the young militants do have the full knowledge of the risks they place themselves when they accept or decline to join the military. This increased awareness is because of the media’s concentration on negative military news. Every day, the media air the ugly truth of Afghanistan and Iraqi military combats. According to Donald Rumsfeld, joining the armed forces may be the best opportunity most American adolescents have to attain college education. Additionally, supporters of the military crusade detest that military recruitment never takes place straight from classrooms. Those interested get a chance to think their decisions over. They have a few to discuss their future prospects in the military with their parents and peers.
The claims of full knowledge of risks in the military for the high school students may be misleading. It is insufficient to rely on news aired on television as enough warnings on the risks of military career. Given today’s media industry, there is an element of heroism that every media program tries to put across. Video games, movies and program series aired on televisions attempt to spread elements of heroism. The actions look so real to a young mind that they imagine the real military combats are as they appear on movies. Given the developmental stages of their brains, adolescents fall to such hoodwinking perceptions and join the military with the hopes of turning out to be the never-dying super hero in the battle field. The media downplays the real image of military service to a point of banality. The situation gets worse as the military personnel who know the truth about the battle field are always reluctant to offer the advice the world needs. Everyone is concerned about portraying the hero’s image and the sad, dull truths of military service always elude the high school adolescents.
In addition to the above prospects, there are immense public health issues of the young who join the military. The adolescents targeted by the high school military recruitment drive are often at a vulnerable stage of brain development. They experience disproportionately higher effects of health from stress than their older counterparts. According to a research carried out by American Public Health Association, the adolescent age defines a stage in life where one is unable to make informed choices. A bulk of enlisted recruits in American high schools is in their late adolescence. This is a stage in life when the youth undergo robust growth and portray a significant deal of physical health. The vigorous physical health is never proportionate to mental development. Their brains are never fully developed and it is the worst time to introduce any form of stress that is characteristic of military service. The undisputable aspects of military service include disengagement from family members, absolute obedience, potential for physical injury and death and all-time uniform appearance. There is requirement for responsibility beyond the needs of the individual.
Proponents of the drive claim that the military is a volunteer force and needs open recruitments to keep its numbers. The navy, army and marines need well educated, motivated recruits to keep the legacy of the nation. There is fear that the pool of potential military recruits shrinks and high school provides the only hope to keep the high numbers needed. The young adolescents must get the chance to intensify and diversify their choices including the military. However, the need for recruits does not necessitate school recruitment. Whereas there are students who may be genuinely interested in joining the army, recruiters can use other settings to reach the interested. In the event that the interests of the recruits are substantial, they would be eager to pursue other means of reaching the recruiters and join the military
Bringing the recruits to a setting with hormone-laden, peer-influenced and unable-to-make-decisions adolescents only serves to sidetrack others from their life-long dreams.
Operationalization of the Research
This research falls under social sciences and is a life science. The effects of high school recruitment of army officers are a phenomenon that cannot be measured directly. Operationalization, therefore, measures the phenomenon of high school recruitment although the extents of the effects are not directly measurable. This concept enables the definition and examination of the fuzzy nature of the research question. In this respect, theoretical concepts of the effects under investigation become clearly measurable and distinguishable in terms of empirical observations. The requirement that all schools receiving state funds should accept military recruitment at least once a year is misplaced. Supporters of the scheme claim that the relationship between schools and the state should be two-way. These schools have no otherwise but to accept military personnel to talk to the students on military career prospects at least once a year. This means that the military will have a composition of the middle and lower class as the drive does not target private schools. This is tantamount to economic segregation. The research labors to specify what is in the survey and what is not and specifies the extension of the research topic.
Conceptualization
This research is an abstract simplification of some part of the universe. It appreciates that there are other practices in the recruitment of army officers that affect the officers’ lives and development in their careers. The research contains concepts, objects and all the entities that are of interest to the study. Adolescents of the age targeted by high school military drive lack the ability to make decisions as fully grown adults. Their mental development has everything to do with this inability. In addition, peer-group rebellion phenomenon leads some to join the military . Further, others find themselves in military service due to raging hormonal imbalance characterized by adolescence. Research shows that although people have the best health at adolescence than any other time of their lives, they stand three times higher chances of dying than children past the age of infancy. This is because they are adventurous and get themselves in risky situations. They get involved in accidents and pay the price for their mischief. It will, in addition, address particular purpose and relationships between the objects and concepts of the survey.
Data Collection Plan
The effects of army recruitment have qualitative effects on the recruits rather than quantifiable effects. For this reason, it is imperative to use qualitative methods of collecting data use in the research. Whereas there are several qualitative methods that can be applied in collecting the data and analyzing the effects of high school recruitment in the states, the best approach to take for this case is in-depth interviews. Observations and focus groups are the other two methods that could be applied in this context. Interviews would allow the observer to capture the viewpoints of project participants, project staff and other parties involved in the survey. In-depth interview will entail a detailed dialogue between the interviewer and army officers who got into the service at high school level, their families ad army officials. In addition, the research will interview therapeutic experts who provide health and psychological advice to army officers.
Researchers will conduct an in-depth interview of 600 army officers of any age, gender and rank who joined the force while still in high school. 25 army officials (recruiting officers) will be part of the respondents. Close family members of the 80 interviewed will also be part of the contributors in the data collected. Interviews are the best data collection method for this research since it yields richest data, new insights and details in a research. The method provides a face to face interaction with the correspondents, an aspect that is imperative in revealing the real situation of the officers under investigation. It will provide an opportunity to explore the topic in depth.
References
Bruce, B., & Smith, F. (2011). American Military Recruitment. Chicago: Counterpoint; Reprint
edition.
Fredrich, K. (2011). Principles of Army Recruitment in America. Washington DC: Siege
Publishers.
Gus, M. (2012). The Significance of Schools in Army Pooling (4 edition). Thousand Oaks: Sage
Publication.
Jan, M., Mitho, K., Bhatti, V., & Ghulam, A. J. (2012, June 21). Army Recruitment: A Critical
Analysis. New York, New York, USA.
Mount, M. E. (2013). Adolescents in the Army: What is the Way Forward? Liberty University:
Liberty University.
