The invasion of student privacy associated
with military testing in U.S. high schools has been well documented by
mainstream media sources, like USA
Today and NPR Radio. The practice of mandatory testing,
however, continues largely unnoticed.
The
Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB is the military's entrance
exam that is given to fresh recruits to determine their aptitude for various
military occupations. The test is also used as a recruiting tool in 12,000 high
schools across the country. The 3 hour test is used by military recruiting
services to gain sensitive, personal information on more than 660,000 high
school students across the country every year, the vast majority of whom are
under the age of 18. Students typically are given the test at school without
parental knowledge or consent. The school-based ASVAB Career Exploration
Program is among the military's most effective recruiting tools.
In
roughly 11,000 high schools where the ASVAB is administered, students are strongly
encouraged to take the test for its alleged value as a career exploration tool,
but in more than 1,000 schools, according to information received from the U.S.
Military Entrance Processing Command through a Freedom of Information Act
request, tens of thousands of students are required to take it. It is a particularly egregious violation of
civil liberties that has been going on almost entirely unnoticed since the late
1960's.
Federal laws strictly monitor the release of student information, but the
military manages to circumvent these laws with the administration of the ASVAB.
In fact, ASVAB test results are the only
student information that leaves U.S. schools without the opportunity provided
for parental consent.
Aside
from managing to evade the constraints of federal law, the military may also be
violating many state laws on student privacy when it administers the ASVAB in
public high schools. Students taking the ASVAB are required to furnish their
social security numbers for the tests to be processed, even though many state
laws specifically forbid such information being released without parental
consent. In addition, the ASVAB requires under-aged students to sign a privacy
release statement, a practice that may also be prohibited by many state laws.
A typical school announcement
reads, "All Juniors will report to the
cafeteria on Monday at 8:10 a.m. to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude
Battery. Whether you're planning on college, a technical school, or you're just
not sure yet, the ASVAB Career Exploration Program can provide you with
important information about your skills, abilities and interests -- and help put
you on the right course for a satisfying career!" This
announcement or one very
similar to it greets students in more than a thousand high schools across
the country. There's no mention of the
military or the primary purpose of the test, which is to find leads for
recruiters.
Imagine
you're Captain Eric W. Johnson, United States Navy, Commander, United States
Military Entrance Processing Command and you had the complete cooperation of
the Arkansas Department of Education to recruit high school students into the
U.S. military. The first step you might take is to require juniors in public
high schools to take the ASVAB. ASVAB results are good for enlistment purposes
for up to two years. The ASVAB offers a treasure trove of information on
students and allows the state's top recruiter to pre-screen the entire crop of
incoming potential recruits. "Sit down, shut up, and take this test.
That's an order!"
142
Arkansas high schools forced 10,000 children to take this military test without
parental consent in Arkansas alone last year. "We've always done it that
way and no one has ever complained," explained one school counselor.
The Army
recruiter's handbook calls for military recruiters to take ownership of schools
and this is one way they're doing it. The U.S. Army Recruiting Command ranks
each high school based on how receptive it is to military recruiters. Schools
are awarded extra points when they make the ASVAB mandatory. See page 25 of: USAREC pub.
601-107
Meanwhile,
military recruiting regulations specifically prohibit that the test from being
made mandatory.
"Voluntary aspect of the student ASVAB: School and student
participation in the Student Testing Program is voluntary. DOD personnel are
prohibited from suggesting to school officials or any other influential
individual or group that the test be made mandatory. Schools will be encouraged
to recommend most students participate in the ASVAB Career Exploration Program.
If the school requires all students of a particular group or grade to test, the
MEPS will support it." See Page 3-1
of USMEPCOM
Reg. 601-4
Is it
entirely coincidental that a thousand schools require students to take the test
or does the Department of Defense have regulations in place solely for public
consumption that it has no intention of following?
In addition,
the Pentagon is grossly under reporting the number of schools with mandatory
testing. There are hundreds of schools
with required testing that are not reported by the DoD. For instance, the
information released by the DoD for the '09-'10 school year shows there is no
mandatory testing in Ohio. However, it
is possible, using a simple Google search tool, in this case ("k12.oh.us " asvab
"all juniors" ) to uncover several
dozen schools that require students to take the ASVAB that are not reported by
the Pentagon.
Why
can't we get traction on this issue?
