Published 6/26/08

There are often military recruiters at San Pedro High School. We see them when we’re walking around campus, in the College and Career Center, even in our classrooms.
So why is it that our principal, Mr. DiPietro, is refusing to allow us to put on an assembly of Arlington West, a documentary about the Iraq War and the “temporary cemeteries” put up by Veteran for Peace memorializing the soldiers killed in Iraq? The video shows the other side of joining the military, and has been shown in high schools around the country. But when we suggested the assembly, Mr. DiPietro refused with a series of excuses.  First, he told us the district said we couldn’t have the assembly, a claim the district debunked. He then said that the assembly wasn’t relevant to the curriculum. Clearly, the assembly with the creator of The Fairly Oddparents, which we’ve had twice, is completely curriculum-based.
Finally, we were told that we couldn’t how the Arlington West assembly because we have to show both sides of the issue. I completely agree. And that’s why we should have this assembly. High school students already are told why we should join the military. The recruiters tell us how it can help pay for college and is an exciting adventure. But before we make such a life-changing decision, shouldn’t we be told that recruiters can lie to us, and shown the realities of the military and war? Isn’t the purpose of school to give us the education we need to make informed decision in our lives? If so, why are our administrators refusing to show students more than one side of such an important, and relevant, issue?

Marina Handwerk

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