Various -

The following is a list of articles and key extracts that deal specifically with the U.S. Army's Human Terrain System, and more broadly with "human terrain" applications of social sciences to military missions. The larger phenomenon of interest to AJP has to do with the militarization of academia. Emphases in bold have been added.

Many areas of society in the UK have seen a growing involvement and/or visibility of the military and military approaches in recent years - from schools, to local communities, to ‘militainment’ (military-themed films, TV programmes, video games etc). This process of privileging and prioritising the military is often referred to as ‘militarisation’; Cynthia Enloe, one of the foremost thinkers on the subject, states that “To become militarised is to adopt militaristic values and priorities as one's own, to see military solutions as particularly effective, to see the world as a dangerous place best approached with militaristic attitudes.”

Forces Watch -

The minimum recruitment age for the British armed forces – 16 years – is one of the lowest in the world. The Ministry of Defence has traditionally justified recruiting from this age group by asserting that 16 years reflects the minimum statutory school leaving age.

However, as a result of successive governments’ policies to increase upper secondary education participation rates, over recent decades the number of young people leaving education and entering employment before the age of 18 has decreased significantly. Today, only a very small percentage of young people leave education at 16 (six per cent in 2009/2010). Apart from the Ministry of Defence, the only other institution which seeks to attract and retain this age group is the education system itself. It is with schools and colleges, not other employers, that the Ministry of Defence directly competes to recruit young people.

Owen Everett

The first International day of action For Military-Free Education and Research was organized by War Resisters International on June 14th 2013. Activists in India, Germany, South Africa, the State of Spain, Chile, Congo, the USA and Israel, called for a separation of the military from education.

Poppy Kohner -

Andreas Speck -

Jillian Kestler-D'Amours -

Textbooks with nationalist themes are helping prejudice to grow in the classroom, say analysts.

Should Israeli girls be prevented from associating with Palestinians?

This was among the questions asked in a new study guide for the end-of-year high school civics exam in Israel, prepared by a private company and approved by the country's ministry of education.

One of the proposed answers was that Israeli girls should stay away from Palestinians, because "Arab youths pose a threat to the lives of Jewish girls" and because "relationships between male Arab youths and female Jewish youths pose a threat to the Jewish majority in the country".

New Profile -

In 2009 the Ministry of Education invited 600 school principals to hear a lecture by General Gabi Ashkenazi, the Chief of Staff, about the importance of the draft. Members of New Profile went to the event, held at the National Theater in Jerusalem.  Forced by police and security to stand far from the theater on a public sidewalk, they attempted to engage in dialogue with the participants as they arrived, offering alternative information about the significance of military involvement in schools. They also distributed flyers. Although the encounters and protest were nonviolent, our members were ordered away from the premises and threatened with arrest.

School principals – You are about to hear from the Chief of Staff what you must do to truly motivate the students in your schools to enlist for combat service. This:

COMD -

When the military comes to your local high school, you have a legal right to give students an opposing view.

This has been the position taken by federal district courts in Florida, Pennsylvania and Illinois and two federal appellate courts. The most broadly-worded decision came from a case that COMD took to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the 1980s. Here is the background:

Heather Mendick -