I thought this made a good question to think about and had one opinion when reading the story, but changed my mind while I went throught the reader comments. An 18-year old Texan finished his USMC boot camp last month after completing his high school graduation requirements last December. He wants to wear his dress blue uniform for the high school graduation ceremony in El Paso, Texas, but he was told he could only graduate in a cap and gown like everyone else- no Marine dress blues.
"Marine fights to wear dress blues at high school graduation," April 10, 2009, by Tony Perry, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/04/marine-lance-cpol.html I thought that this was a little restrictive and a bit of backlash exercised against the military, something like you see in San Francisco politics where they wanted to keep any military recruiting off school campuses. An example of that San Francisco attitude is shown in, "JROTC on Life Support in San Francisco; Parents are fighting to keep the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps alive in the Golden Gate City," http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/jrotc-on-life-support-in-san-francisco/ , a story in "Pajamas Media.com," a news weblog. The San Francisco high school program is like the one in Los Angeles, but there is more hostility there and San Francisco generally has been criticized as lacking patriotism. The comments there are useful in understanding the situation. In the JROTC program at Lincoln High, there is much more going on to help a student that is not strictly related to any military function. The military format is the structure used to develop academics, leadership and a lot of things that might be different from the experiences we had many years ago, which was still not a bad thing as I recalled those times. Reading these items will give you a beter idea of current views in the San Francisco situation.
A related story on the topic is from back in August 2006. It gives some background on the situation and was at another time when the San Francisco school board was considering phasing out the Jr. ROTC program from the high schools. The content of the article shows some very strong views against the program, and it considered the purpose of JROTC as being a recruitment device. The comments on that story are, as expected, also interesting. "The case against the JROTC," http://ww.sfbg.com/entry.php?catid=160&entry_id=1356 in the "San Francisco Bay Guardian Online." Some good discussions points within the replies to the article that is strongly against the JROTC program.
Well, getting back to the story of the graduation, I thought it was something that he should be allowed to do for some achievement-recognition purpose, and it was a too-restrictive policy that the school decisioin-makers were following. In the case of our graduate-to-be, Marine Pfc. Garrett Miles-McCarthy, he has two achievements he can be proud of, doing a lot better that what we have seen locally in LAUSD, but also probably better than lots in his home town, too. I changed my opinion to the "wear a cap and gown" for a lot of reasons that are not "anti" anything, but centered on the support of the ceremony of HIGH SCHOOL achievement. And on that basis, I join with the school's side.
You may decide differently, but still, his Marine Corps status is in no way devalued by not allowing him to wear his uniform at graduation. He could wear it UNDER his cap and gown, but one reader wrote that the uniform is not supposed to be covered by something such as a cap and gown. I don't know if that's correct or not, but no school decision is keeping him from that choice so far.
The case here is about a student who has accomplished quite a bit for a young person, and now we have a dispute broiling because of it. Usually, there are stories and arguments over the things that are happening to young people that are examples of some NEGATIVE actions. This at least is different and we should all have such things to bicker about from some a case of a young person's achievement.
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