The Bluewater District School Board will continue to display Military Career Posters in it’s secondary schools.
However, Trustee Marg Gaviller feels military recruitment does not have a place in schools.
Gaviller says recruiting after high school is fine but the students are too young.
The board along with the Bruce Grey Catholic School Board and Grey and Simcoe Foresters have offered a Militia Co-op Program.
The reservist program is one semester where students earn four credits and their basic military and soldier qualifications.
Gaviller says the posters that are displayed in schools have images of soldiers holding guns which she says promotes violence as the only way to solve problems.
Gaviller says the posters should show that the military is more than just fighting as there is other career paths.
Trustee Cindy Aitken says as a board of education it is our duty to provide students with all the education they need and they need to know war is real.
Trustee John Chapman echoed Aitken’s comments adding he doesn’t want to give a filtered message to students.
Superintendent of Secondary Education Alana Murray says every student who has been apart of the Militia program has benefited saying the students grew and developed during the semester.
Murray says there are alot of more options when you enter the military then battle and like any career there is always an aspect of safety people need to take into consideration.
Murray adds the board has to provide it’s students with as many career opportunities and for each opportunity we have to provide them with as much information as possible to make the right choice.
