In the wake of the atrocities committed in Gaza, it is more urgent than ever that our children learn that war is a very serious matter and should be avoided by all means.
This week I was shocked to hear a Flight Lieutenant using the words ‘cool’, ‘fun’ and ‘exciting’ to describe his job at an ‘Inspirational Talk’ for Year 6-children and their parents, organised by a primary school, which my daughter attended. The LT is currently a member of the Royal Air Force and has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other countries.
After showing a film depicting his spectacular pirouetting skills – sound-tracked with Hollywood-style, heroic music –, he recounted his career in the RAF, stressing how great his job was. He made no mention of his training or participation in armed conflicts – how odd, given that these are central remits of the armed forces! – and did not show any awareness or concerns about the humanitarian disasters caused by wars. Instead, he presented his job as a sporting adventure.
Worryingly, most children appeared positively impressed by his account. The youngsters’ questions all tallied with the partial and superficial information given to them. ‘What do you feel when you spin?’, asked one boy. In his answers, he even suggested that some could join the RAF. I wonder in what ways teachers believe these promotions might be ‘inspirational’.
Attending this talk made me realise the extent to which it is possible to manipulate and decontextualize issues of enormous implications, and that we have not sufficiently educated our children about the horrors of wars.
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Armed Forces' proselytism in primary schools and the question of war
kchornik · 27/07/2014 11:15
On BBC2 tonight at 9pm, there's a whole hour about the Red Arrows, For Heaven's sake, don't let anyone under the age of 18 watch or they will be joining up right, left and centre 
I hate these threads.
If a police officer had gone into a school that would have been fine even though they kill people. God forbid any member of the Armed Forces goes in and they are automatically "brainwashing" and trying to get them to join up at 11! 
DS1 told his teacher on the last day of Yr2 he was going to be a soldier, he is now 4 weeks in to Phase 1 training in the Army. He has used the words 'fun' 'cool' and 'exciting', as has DH over his 27.5yr military career, but he has also said he is knackered and fed up at times! He spent the whole of his time at Junior school, Secondary school and Sixth Form college having teachers trying to 'brainwash' him that the armed forces are bad and he was too good and too intelligent for them! (He has all As and A*s at GCSE and AAB at A level).
Each and everyone of those 35 men who joined up with DS1 know what the Armed Forces do. Being told it was cool at 11 would not have had any bearing on their decision imo.
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Message withdrawn at poster's request.
But that wasn't the case was it cruik
It was a member of the Red Arrows who was discussing his current job and last time I looked the RA were doing festivals and national events not dropping bombs in Iraq.
There are regular advertisements on tv & radio promoting joining the forces. There is an even per week at the moment regarding the armed forces due to the centenary.
There is not a league of Army sign up crews going around schools endorsing joining up as being cool/fun/awesome/without risk. That is a ridiculous thing to say.
It is the government that make the decision on which war to fight and everyman or women who signs up knows that going in to a combat zone and fighting a war because he government tell you to is a real possibility.
However we will forget about all the non fighting/war actions the armed forces provide because well some aren't interested in that
Add message | Report | Message poster cruikshank Sun 27-Jul-14 19:41:30
I agree that there is some debate as to how many civilians you and your fellow 'heros' killed, but I think we can also agree that there were plenty of them
I'm not a hero Cruikshank, and never said I was. I know a few though 
They allow the military into primary schools?
Yep, every single day...and sometimes even in uniform
The Red Arrows chap was probably asked to go in by the HT. I was, and I'm no where near as cool as a Red Arrow . Just a person doing a great job and very proud of doing it.
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