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The New York Times (NYT) reports that on Andreya Thomas' first day of school, she looked over her schedule and found that she was enrolled in a class with an unfamiliar name: J.R.O.T.C.

She and other freshmen at Pershing High School in Detroit were soon informed that they had been accepted into the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps, a US military-funded program designed to teach leadership skills, discipline, and civic values — as well as to introduce students to the idea of a military career, according to the NYT report. 

The report adds that students had to wear military uniforms during class and take orders from an instructor who was often yelling, Thomas said, but when several of them pleaded to be allowed to drop the class, school administrators refused.

“They told us it was mandatory,” Thomas said.

What are J.R.O.T.C. programs?

J.R.O.T.C. programs, which are taught by military veterans in 3,500 high schools across the US, are supposed to be optional, and the Pentagon has stated that requiring students to take them violates Pentagon policy. However, The New York Times discovered that thousands of public school students were being pushed into the classes without their knowledge, either as an explicit requirement or by being enrolled automatically.

According to the report, a review of J.R.O.T.C. enrollment data obtained through more than 200 public records requests revealed that dozens of schools, including those in Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Oklahoma City, and Mobile, Ala., have made the program mandatory or steered more than 75% of students in a single grade into the classes.

The Times found that a majority of the schools with those high enrollment numbers were attended by a large proportion of nonwhite students and those from low-income households.

The classes, which cover a wide range of topics such as leadership, civic values, weapon handling, and financial literacy, according to the New York Times, have provided the military with a valuable way to interact with teenagers at a time when it is facing its most serious recruiting challenge since the end of the Vietnam War.

'Not a recruiting tool'

While Pentagon officials have long maintained that J.R.O.T.C. is not a recruiting tool, they have openly discussed expanding the $400 million-a-year program, the report states, which has already tripled in size since the 1970s, to attract more young people into military service. It adds that the Army says 44% of all soldiers who entered its ranks in recent years came from a school that offered J.R.O.T.C.

High school principals who have embraced the program argue that the program motivates students who are struggling, teaches self-discipline to disruptive students, and provides those who may feel isolated with a sense of camaraderie. Military officials point to research indicating that J.R.O.T.C. students have better attendance and graduation rates with fewer discipline problems at school. 

Money over ethics? 

Schools are also incentivized financially to enroll students in the program. According to The New York Times, the military pays for instructors' salaries, while schools must maintain a certain level of enrollment to keep the program running.

Some schools appear to have saved money by using J.R.O.T.C. instead of hiring more teachers in subjects like physical education or wellness in states where it can be used as an alternative graduation credit.

Furthermore, Nicole Schwegman, a Pentagon spokeswoman and former J.R.O.T.C. student, stated that, while the program aided the armed forces by introducing teenagers to the prospect of military service, it operated under the educational branch of the military, not the recruiting branch, and aimed to help teenagers become more effective students and responsible adults.

“It’s really about teaching kids about service, teaching them about teamwork,” Commander Schwegman said.

However, she expressed concern about The Times' findings on enrollment policies, claiming that the military does not request that high schools make J.R.O.T.C. mandatory and that schools should not require students to take it.

“Just like we are an all-volunteer military, this should be a volunteer program,” she said.

What effects do J.R.O.T.C. programs have? 

Forcing students into J.R.O.T.C. has occasionally resulted in discipline and morale issues.

William White, a retired Army major who taught J.R.O.T.C. for years in three states, said that in Florida, there was a constant emphasis on keeping enrollment high, with students required to take the class even if they were so opposed to it that they refused to do the work.

“Kids were forced into the program,” he said, adding that he faced blowback after trying to get students removed who did not want to be there.

Students were required to take the program in their freshman year to fulfill a physical education credit and in their sophomore year to fulfill a health credit, according to Marvin Anderson, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army who is the senior J.R.O.T.C. instructor at Green Oaks Performing Arts Academy, a public high school in Shreveport, La.

He stated that the program provided valuable leadership, community service, and discipline training. However, because so many students do not want to be in the class, he says it is difficult to maintain those values.

“I have issues with behavior, and issues with grooming requirements and other things,” Colonel Anderson said. He said he struggled constantly to maintain a structured class “for teenagers who don’t want to be in the program.”

How did J.R.O.T.C. textbooks rewrite history?

One of the Navy textbooks obtained and examined by The Times states that political leaders' restrictions on the tactics the military could use hampered a US military victory in Vietnam.

That hawkish interpretation of the war ignores a fundamental issue raised by many civilian textbooks: the lack of popular support among South Vietnamese for their government, which was America's main ally in the war.

A Marine Corps textbook that describes the 1830s "Trail of Tears" fails to mention that thousands of Native Americans died when they were forced from their lands in the southeastern United States.

“The version of history that I was hearing from my J.R.O.T.C. kids was quite different from the versions of history that I tried to teach in my classroom,” said Sylvia McGauley, a retired history teacher in Troutdale, Ore. 
 
Sylvia McGauley, a former high school history teacher in Troutdale, Oregon, expressed concern when she discovered that the J.R.O.T.C. textbooks used at her school were teaching "militarism, not critical thinking."

“The version of history that I was hearing from my J.R.O.T.C. kids was quite different from the versions of history that I tried to teach in my classroom,” she said.