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VVAW and School Visits

By Joe Miller

One of the most important areas of VVAW's work is the visit to schools - high schools, community colleges, universities, etc. This is especially important in the run up to another war, but it is always central to our continuing fight against attempts to rewrite the history of the Vietnam war. We should not be surprised that our role as active opponents to "our" war is conveniently left out of the history books. For most of these young people, all Vietnam vets were hounded, harassed and spit upon by the anti-war movement. They just "know" this to be a fact, and no one tells them any different.

The most difficult thing about this effort is the connections you need make with teachers who may bring you back again and again. At the high school level, this may be particularly difficult, due to the rather controlled nature of the high school environment. If you have kids in school it becomes easier, since they can make the approach to social studies teachers to invite you in. High school administrators may try to place obstacles in your way, but I have found that mention of the court cases covering access to schools by people presenting an alternative to military service can do wonders. And now, with Bush's "Leave no child behind" rules that require high schools to provide military recruiters with contact information for senior students, it may be easier to make the argument for alternative information.

Colleges and universities do not have such obstacles, so it is merely a question of making contact with social science instructors who would probably be very interested in providing you with a platform. A personal letter from you, describing your military background and expressing an interest in presenting information to students, is a good place to begin. Even if you may have done limited public speaking, you have information that no one else in that classroom has, so you should not be shy about sharing it. Believe me, it gets easier each time you do this.

Here are some resources you should consult in preparation for these school visits:

Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMO)

"Using Equal Access to High Schools"

Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO)

National Youth & Militarism Program (AFSC)

"Youth, Militarism, and Alternatives" (Romo and Curry)