By Victor Skinner
EAGnews.org

SAN DIEGO – Teachers unions oppose a lot of valued American traditions, and military service is no exception.

At the Los Angeles Unified School District, union officials have mounted counter-recruiting efforts to convince students not to join the military by highlighting the physical danger and loss of privacy and individuality that accompany soldiers’ regimented training.

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They put students on “do not call” lists, and insist that military recruiters receive no more access to students than any other potential employer, the Los Angeles Times reports.

“The U.S. continues to fight in wars that are opposed by the public, and yet the military can recruit with little opposition because working-class kids have few job options,” Joshua Pechthalt, president of the California Federation of Teachers union, told the Times.

The opposition, of course, stems from the very liberal bias of teachers unions and their unholy alliance to the Democratic Party, which is why the U.S. Marine Corps holds about a dozen “educator workshops” each year to show public school teachers the other side of military service first hand.

During a recent event at the Marines’ recruiting depot in San Diego, teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators from districts in the Los Angeles and Sacramento areas got a flavor of what students who enlist in the military stand to gain from their training.

They watched recruits navigate obstacle courses, practice at rifle ranges, and learn to tread water while wearing full combat gear. Over the course of four days, school employees asked questions about life in the service, and military recruiting practices. They received direct answers that changed the way many look at military service as an option for students after high school.

“An early question from one teacher was whether recruits may someday go to war,” the Times reports.

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Boot camp chief of staff Robert Gates: “The Marine Corps is primarily a combat-arms organization, that’s what we do.”

Students gain discipline, a sense of purpose and educational benefits as they train to become combat ready, teachers learned during the weekend. Many can get a college degree while in active duty or attend college with expenses paid after their service is completed.

The educator workshops leave many who attend with a new outlook on the military, and some leave with the goal of counterbalancing the negative rhetoric promoted by the teachers unions and their members.

“It’s impressive,” William Lozoya, a music teacher from San Fernando High School told the Times. “I had no idea that there are so many support programs, so many ways they can get an education or training.”

Highland Park High English teacher Brian Metzger told the Times that guidance counselors at his school actively discourage students from enlisting in the military.

“Now I can at least provide a more balanced view for students to make up their own minds,” he said.

South Pasadena High Chinese teacher Melissa Cheng said she learned new ways to relate military training to Chinese parents, who are often biased against enlistment.