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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Army visiting school

74 replies

eandemum · 13/06/2011 20:05

DD came home today - had had a great time as the army (2 soldiers) had visited and spoke to the 3 classes in her year - giving out stickers, pencils, children trying on camouflage stuff/helmets etc and holding a gun.

First thing we knew re: this was when DD said at hometime said "I want to join the army", when asked why she said "so I can kill people"
BUT I do realise this would NOT have come from the soldiers.

Didn't know beforehand about this from the school and if had wouldn't have stopped her joining in.

But is this a bit early for "recruiting"?
or
is it simply a fun visit for the children and great for the school as it is fun and free and the school needs visits like this budget-wise??

BTW DD is 5 and in Reception. What do you think?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

MadamDeathstare · 13/06/2011 20:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

scurryfunge · 13/06/2011 20:35

It is a good opportunity to see the Army in a positive light. Not recruiting at all, just explaining the role the Army has to play in society.

Original poster

eandemum · 13/06/2011 20:37

DD is 5 and as all 5 yr olds tells lies (they do all do that don't they - not just mine!?)
but I'm not sure she did on this occasion - as she had no reason to -
usually the lie would be to get out of trouble i.e. dolly/brother told me to draw on the carpet but you are right over-excitement/imagination can change things.
I am tempted to go and ask her but she is asleep!

OP posts:

GypsyMoth · 13/06/2011 20:39

Recruiting!!!! LMAO!!

4yr olds! So the other school visitors are also 'recruiting' are they!?

Or are we only demonising the army?

LtEveDallas · 13/06/2011 20:41

DuellingFanjo, don't worry, the British Army has no interest in recruiting 5 year olds! But it is good for all society (incl and especially children) to see that we are NOT killing machines, we do a lot of good.

It would have been nothing more than a bit of fun for the children.

Original poster

eandemum · 13/06/2011 20:44

No not demonising the army at all - hope that wasn't how post came across -
what's LMAO?

OP posts:

mpsw · 13/06/2011 20:45

It's definitely not/not a recruiting drive in Reception!

There's a variety of uniforms that might be worn. I cannot conceive of a weapon being taken into a school (even the completely deactivated "show" weapons that are sometimes available for the public to handle at Army stalls at County Shows and the like).

And Rosebud05 - you'll probably find that those fleeing civil war etc are among those most likely to welcome troops. When your country is in civil war and turmoil, one of the big hopes is western intervention.

SoupDragon · 13/06/2011 20:49

"of course it's a kind of recruitment drive."

PMSL... you can not be serious.

I am surprised there was no letter - we have to give consent even for things like tester workshops that come into school.

jcscot · 13/06/2011 20:56

is jealous

My son's class had had lots of parents in to talk about what they do for a living (they ranged from a midwife to a musician and all sorts in between), as well as visits from the police/ambulance/fire brigade etc. All very interesting and exciting for the children.

My husband was not allowed to participate because he's in the Army and we were told that it would "...upset other parents...". So, (as far as I know) my son was the only one who didn't have a family member come in to talk about their job.

My husband had planned to take in pictures of a school he helped build in Afghanistan, to show how other children live, as well as talk in general terms about the kind of job he does. It would all have been appropriate to the age group (nursery - 3-5yo) and would not have included a gun!

SnailWhaleTail · 13/06/2011 20:56

Oh dear! DH (RN officer) went in the other week for some such topic with an assortment of hats/caps, some camo gear and his ceremonial sword which is a hoofing great big thing.

As far as I know there was no letter home allowing parents to opt out but we go live in quite an RN heavy area, I hope we haven't inadvertently offended the other parents.

DS (6) was chuffed as a monkey though that the other kids thought his dad was 'supercool'!

DuelingFanjo · 13/06/2011 20:57

of course it is. Anythign which is done to show any age child in school that a profession exists is, even in a vary mild form, a recruitment drive. It is showing young kids that these careers exist where they may not have been aware before. It plants the seed of an army career in to their minds.

jcscot · 13/06/2011 20:58

"It plants the seed of an army career in to their minds."

And that's a bad thing?

Original poster

eandemum · 13/06/2011 21:00

That's even worse!
It is important for everybody to have a well-rounded view of what any occupation involves and yr DH would have done just that!

OP posts:

scurryfunge · 13/06/2011 21:00

DuelingFanjo....can't professions be seen as a role in society without saying "I strongly recommend you do this job"?

A Police officer usually attends schools to make them seem approachable and from a caring, protective role rather than punitive.....same as the Army.

Rosebud05 · 13/06/2011 21:09

"you'll probably find that those fleeing civil war etc are among those most likely to welcome troops. When your country is in civil war and turmoil, one of the big hopes is western intervention."

Really?

mpsw · 13/06/2011 21:12

Yes, of course.

amberleaf · 13/06/2011 21:14

During 'careers choices' week at my DS high school there was an army stand.

That was definitely a recruitment drive.

Im inclined to think what the OP writes about is too-albeit much more softly softly.

As a previous poster said...it plants the seed.......

jcscot · 13/06/2011 21:17

"During 'careers choices' week at my DS high school there was an army stand.

That was definitely a recruitment drive."

Surely no more so than any other stand/company/organistation there, however? Should the Forces not be allowed to attend careers fairs?

amberleaf · 13/06/2011 21:27

Careers fairs maybe yes...if you mean the sort that adults go to?

13/14 yr olds being shown the wonderful opportunities that army life gives them without a mention of any of the dangerous/bad stuff?

No sorry i dont think they should be allowed to do this in schools.

GypsyMoth · 13/06/2011 21:32

So no workers/careers at all then?

GypsyMoth · 13/06/2011 21:33

No vets, nurses,shopkeepers,musicians...... Nothing

Let them think money grows on trees til they get to secondary school, then hit them with it?

jcscot · 13/06/2011 21:35

"13/14 yr olds being shown the wonderful opportunities that army life gives them without a mention of any of the dangerous/bad stuff?

No sorry i dont think they should be allowed to do this in schools."

It would be very hard nowadays to miss the reality of Forces life, unless children simply don't watch the news/read the papers - injured personnel are shown on a regular basis and Wooton Bassett certainly focused on the repatriation of those who sadly didn't make it home alive. Given that media exposure, are children so "innocent" that they would simply think the Forces are all about glamour and excitement?

I have to say that I am completely unaware of the current recruiting material, so I don't know how it would come across but the last TV campaign I saw (which was an Army one) definitely concentrated on the kind of jobs people do on operations - from peacekeeping to war fighting to humanitarian campaigns. The days of the windsurfing/skiiing/parachuting "To be Frank..." advertisements are long gone!

So long as the Forces remain a part of mainstream public life, then they have as much right to advertise at any careers/jobs awareness events as any other profession or trade or organisation.

DuelingFanjo · 13/06/2011 21:37

Even the adverts on TV manage to make being in the army look exciting, fun and glamorous.

Buttonmushroomhomewrecker · 13/06/2011 21:39

Ex army wife here and i have to saythe gun sounds dubious as someone else mentioned they don't just walk around with them and take them home after work it's not a militia.

Although we had a forensics guy come into ds reception with a set of "clues" and one of them was a fake blood covered knife!

Had no idea about that visit until ds started talking about DNA evidence in murders atthe ripe old age of 5.

LtEveDallas · 13/06/2011 21:40

13/14 year olds will be told the bad stuff. They will also be told all the good stuf (which far outweighs the bad). They will be told of the myriad of careers available to them in all 3 forces. They will be told about Officer Entry and Soldier Entry. They will be told about the opportunities available to them if they decide upon a career in the forces.

They will be given as much of the 'full story' as the RRT is able to give (oh, and I am aware of 2 teams with amputee soldiers serving - it would be kind of hard to miss that bit of 'bad news')

13/14 year olds will also be told about careers in retail, police, medical, professional careers, apprenticeships, manual labour et al.

Would you rather that they made decisions that could effect the rest of their lives without the full facts?

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