They're students, not recruits

Keep the military's base of operations out our education system

As the school year begins, parents and guardians across the [U.S.] are getting to know new teachers, bus routes, routines and worrying increasingly about violence and bullying as we send our children into the semi-unknown. It’s a busy, nervous time of year.

Parents of school-aged children in Syria and Iraq have other worries. An August 2014 United Nations Human Rights Council report states that both state and non-state armed groups in the region have been recruiting children for combat and non-combat support roles in violent conflict, [including] ISIS.

Many of the issues facing American, Syrian and Iraqi parents are incomparable. As parents ourselves, we cannot imagine the horror of wanting an education for our children only to watch them be actively recruited or forced into armed combat at age 11. But, we also recognize that American children as young as age 5 are also actively recruited by an armed group – the U.S. military – throughout their educational career.

Read the rest of the article here.

Source: Muscatine Journal