Soldiers in Schools

Over the course of my revision, I saw a story in the paper that was detailing plans to get demobilised soldiers to retrain as teachers. I must say, I think it's an excellent idea.

I can't think of many better models for our young people today. Our armed services are institutions where exceptional levels of discipline, professionalism, dedication, motivation and integrity are the norm. Individuals in the forces understand that the world does not revolve around them; something the rioters of a few weeks ago with their latent sense of entitlement would do well to understand.

Of course there have been the predictable objections to this idea. Some say it is a bad idea to put trained killers in the classrooms. I think this is a very narrow-minded view. A far better representation of the job of someone in the service is of an individual skilled in getting a given task done often under extreme time pressure, with minimal equipment and, of course, adverse circumstances. Experienced problem solvers in other words. Admittedly the problems solved are military in nature and may well involve the use of force; however the use of force is incidental and not the objective in its-self. In short, portraying our forces as knuckle dragging thugs is ignorant.

[Further evidence, if such evidence is needed, can be found here here in the speech given by Colonel Tim Collins on the eve of the second Gulf War]

The demands placed on our forces today means that the testosterone-fuelled, macho stereotype no longer holds true. Young men and women are being sent into war zones before they have even reached their 20s. Many have lived with their parents all their lives, yet more have never been to a foreign country. When they get into theatre, it is very likely that they will be attacked. They will lose friends and must quickly come to terms with their own mortality. The Officers and NCOs who's job it is to lead these people have to be sensitive to their needs. Typically, rather than doing the bare minimum necessary to get by, they excel inspiring their troops to ever greater feats of heroism, bravery and sheer physical endurance. It is not only the leaders that are possessed of these traits. Every soldier I have spoken to (I always seem to end up sitting next to squaddies on long train journeys) had profound emotional intelligence and as far from mindless thuggery as you could wish to imagine. Why then, would we not want these qualities brought into our classrooms?

Members of our forces also have to be able to partially integrate and work within completely alien environments and cultures. They need to do this quickly and they need to do this while fostering as much good will from the local community as possible. Again, why not have our children taught by people who are used to building strong rapports with a diverse range of people quickly. Surely this skill could be used to engage the children and enthuse them about the subjects.

Military personnel also need to be able to react quickly to dynamic and changing situations. While the classroom is not a war zone, there is the potential for things to develop rapidly whether that be from an unexpected question prompting a class discussion to a disruptive pupil causing the whole class to lose interest.

To my mind, one of the biggest advantages of employing demobilised soldiers, sailors and airmen(people?) as teachers would be their uniformly strong sense of discipline. It is not fashionable in certain circles (and among the readership of certain newspapers) to suggest that children need discipline and boundaries to flourish. None the less it is true. Many people have been coming round to the idea after the recent riots and looting. Although giving kids a beasting may not be practical (or desirable) a strong sense of discipline and a no-nonsense attitude would go a long, long way. Couple that to an understanding of the concept of responsibility and a dash of self-respect and we would have the majority of young people ready to face the world when they leave school.

As for specialist knowledge, well that is attainable. Again, to assume the role of the military is simply fighting causes one to miss the bigger picture. The military regularly has to adapt to new situations and to do that, the people in it must learn new skills (and usually pretty quickly). Therefore it should be entirely possible to educate service people in specialist subjects. Law now operates a year conversion course covering the salient points of law an individual needs to know to practice effectively and some universities are now offering condensed medical degrees. This shows it's entirely possible to give an individual good subject knowledge without lengthy study. Furthermore, it is an error to think that currently all teachers of specialist subjects have tertiary education qualifications in their subject matter. This is particularly prevalent in the sciences where chemists regularly teach physics and biologists regularly teach chemistry due to a lack of teachers with specialist knowledge in those subjects.

I think there is a place for military personnel in our schools and I think all would benefit from it (and if nothing else, if the tabloids are to be believed, it would be very advantageous having people who are used to coming under fire in our inner city schools).

JR