Military Co-ops

There was a recent attempt in Windsor to accomplish the same thing discussed in this Sun editorial - banning military co-ops from public schools. While the motion was roundly defeated, in large part due to an outcry from the community, the campaign has not ended by any means. The issue was posed at a recent all-candidates forum. To be honest, the mumbling and hedging I heard going on didn't reassure me very much.

EDITORIAL: A sneak attack on our military

This will apparently come as a shock to some school trustees, teachers and other "anti-war" types in Ontario, but joining the military is a legitimate career choice for young people.

It's as valid as pursuing a career in medicine, law or engineering.

In that context, we find it deeply disturbing, that, as reported by Sun education columnist Moira MacDonald this week, some school trustees, teachers and other critics within our publicly-funded education system want to ban high school co-op programs with the Canadian military.

How dare they? We can't imagine these folks ever making a similar argument against, say, co-op programs to train future social workers.

So what is it about providing young people with a taste of the skills they will need to join Canada's reserves -- and perhaps a full-time military career after that -- that so upsets them?

Whatever happened to the days where a military stint, or saints perserve us, an actual life-long career in the military, was considered an honourable pursuit?

H/T Jack's Newswatch