How many calls/contacts do you get from the local Armed Forces Recruiting District about your graduating Senior?
And, what stops them?
I would have the kid tell the recruiter to stop calling.
I look at this as an opportunity for the kids to learn to deal with pushy salesmen.
We had a few - I let them know my kid is deaf and that was that… But agree with dadoftwingirls above, have the kid tell them to stop calling.
What stops them is telling them you have asthma. This is what my daughter did on the first call (she actually has a history of childhood asthma and therefore probably is not eligible for military service). They never called again.
What you must never, never do is be nice to them. My son, who greatly respects the military even though he had no interest in enlisting, was polite and chatty on the first call and had to fend off calls for the following five years. They would even call during semester breaks from college just to see whether he might have dropped out and therefore would be interested in serving.
I Get them to stop by saying “Private, I’d rather you not call again. That decision is one for my son to make with me.”
When my kids were in HS they brought home a letter that you could sign requesting they NOT provide your information to the recruiters.
Back in the day, the exact same thing happened. And it was kind of creepy too, some guy calling me up saying he was from the Marine Corps and how tall was I and how much did I weigh.
Same old, same old.
Then again, I am for requiring 2 years of government service or 1 year of military service for all US citizens…
I don’t recall ever getting a call but then again, we didn’t have a home phone. I got a few pamphlets but nothing overbearing. Hm…
I have told my daughters to say the following, “My mother would be very upset if we enlisted. She expects us to be an Officer like she was.”.
For those who don’t know, Congress has passed a law where the military recruiters are entitled to get student directories from high schools. They are also entitled to have the same opportunity to get college directories from colleges that receive federal funding. So if a university sells it student directory information to a credit card company, the military has the same right to purchase the list.
A high school student has to request to be removed from the student directory provided to military recruiters.
During the Viet Nam era, somehow my mother got on a list by mistake and received draft notices, which she threw away. Then she received a call from a recruiter. When he realized that she was a woman, and that there had been a mistake, he made a pitch for her to join up anyway. (She is an R.N., and apparently they though that she was not only male, but much younger!) She told him she’d consider it if they would take her husband and two children also. 
Mention of Crohn’s disease stopped them for us. Too bad, it would have been nice if the military wanted to take over responsibility for the bimonthly Remicade infusions. Seriously, though, my son was interested in the military and was disappointed to find out they wouldn’t consider him.
The problem with having the student talk to them is that they never call when the student is available due to all the activities they are involved in. That led to an invitation to “call this number anytime”, the student called after hours and got an invitation to call back at…another time during the day that was impossible.
True story: Family friend and retired Marine told a recruiter, “I’m a retired Colonel, spent 32 years in the Corps. Trust me when I tell you…You don’t want my daughter in the Corps. She wouldn’t make a good Marine!”
He was right and the recruiter quit calling!
Ha Ha. That’s pretty straightforward.
Funny, I don’t think my kids ever got a phone call. They did not go to public schools, so maybe they didn’t get on a list. A couple of times we have walked by recruiting booths with one of our sons, with the recruiter trying to talk to him. We start mentioning that we were both Air Force pilots (officers), and they always lose interest. I guess the realization hits that no way is this kid going to be enlisted infantry. In fact, I’ve discouraged both of our kids about going into the military, though if they were determined to do so, I probably wouldn’t fight it if they went into the Air Force or Coast Guard as officers. I don’t think I’d steer them into flying, as it is very possible they’d end up flying drones.
I did tell them that S had poorly controlled asthma but recruiters said that wasn’t an issue and they still wanted him. I told them he also had other health conditions that would endanger whomever he was serving with. The recruiter said he just wanted to bring in people and have others sort out their health issues. (At least he was honest.) Eventually, they stopped and moved on to the next batch of HS seniors. They never called about D–she was asked to leave HS after JR year, due to health issues.
I think you should have to " opt - in", but that isnt how it works.
Private schools dont get federal funding, so they arent targeted like publc schools, particulary schools on low income neighborhoods.
And its not just the military, private companies are buying mailing lists of student info.
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/privacy-bill-wouldnt-stop-data-mining-of-kids-116299.html?hp=b1_c2
@emeraldkity4, whoever pays the bill sets the rules.
Nobody calls my kids. But if they do I’ll probably say something off the wall to scare them.
Whoever pays the bills?
Taxpayers pay for the schools.
Its true that some districts seek new computer testing/curriculum, ofttimes changing so often that any " savings" from previous programs is negated by the time & expense needed to retrain teachers every couple years.
Woe to the teacher who is hired for fall, after summer trainings have been held, as they are on their own to figure it put.
Its especially irritating when a few months to a year or so after the district spends thousands to the tech company which was advocated heavily by a school board member or even the superintendent, and it is discovered that they financially benefit.