Once upon a time there were two countries arguing two different ideas and a war was born. The people of one country opposed this argument and did not want to be a part of the war. This country needed soldiers to fight so it developed this thing called a Draft. The Draft forced a lot of poor people who did not want to fight, including students who wanted an education to better themselves, to serve and defend ideas they did not believe in. A lot of people died. A lot of young people died.
Though nowadays, the United States no longer has an official draft, many people believe there is a “hidden draft” known as the economic draft. This economic draft is made up of the lower class masses, mainly including minorities and poor whites, who need help funding their education. With the increasing college tuition, and decreasing federal aide, students are turning to the military for help. The military’s promises of a brighter future and money for their education, is what usually highly entices students.
Activist Sam Anderson says, “For Black, Latino, Native American, Asian and poor white youth, there is a powerful economic draft that forces our children into the military with promi
ses of discounted higher education, benefits, job skills development and travelling the world. The shrinking civilian job market with sweatshop labor conditions helps create this economic draft. Hence, the proposed draft legislation does not have to be passed to ensure a multimillion populated standing army for the protection and promotion of imperialism and white supremacy.”
While our teachers greatly advise us to pursue a college degree, to some degree our government denies us the opportunity. Anderson believes “constant breaking into their (students’) educational course is devastating. But, it is systematic. It doesn’t pay for the rulers of this country to have a military that has an educated rank and file, because then they might question orders, and what they want are grunts.” It is no surprise that the military has lowered its standards for new recruits in order to fill their quotas and pick up on the ones with no money and no future.
The following link provides answers to the most frequently asked questions about the draft.
http://teenadvice.about.com/library/weekly/aa030203e.htm
The following link provides information on what happens during a draft.
A Brief History of the Selective Service/Draft:
- In 1940, President Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act which established the Selective Service System as an independent Federal agency.
- In 1973, the United States replaced the draft with an all-volunteer military.
- In 1975, the Selective Service System was “eliminated”.
- In 1980, the Selective Service was reinstalled and President Carter resumed the draft due to the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan. The Selective Service System still remains in order to bring back the draft in the event of a future crisis.
Sources:
Info:
Military Draft Considered in U.S. House, Senate
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=e1e7f5ddc27748a5ba27813da4ea67c8
Background of Selective Service
Pics:
http://media.komoradio.com/images/061222_draft_graphic.jpg
http://www.selectiveserviceinfo-ny.org/sam-choice2.JPG
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