Monday, August 18, 2008

So, I was called by the local army recruiting office this morning. Not particularly who I want to hear, or waste my cell phone minutes on, but I answered anyway because the call came from a private number, which is usually what it says when my boss calls. It was easy enough to say, "No, I don't to talk about army recruiting. Thanks anyway. Bye." But there was one bit of information that I got before that happened which made me a little upset. The gentleman on the other end of the line told me that they called me because they were calling previous and current Laney College students. Yes, I occasionally take classes at Laney College because its cheap and fun to occasionally learn new things there. However, I don't ever remember giving them permission to give out my personal information to the army recruiters. There was no check box on the admissions application that said "yes, please share my information." Nor were there any disclaimers telling me that they were planning on doing this with or with out my permission if I decided to be a student. I have the right to know these things, or at least I should, prior to their happening.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Public schools have a contract which specifically allows the military access to their student records. Reject the contract, no funding.

theodora said...

Yes, I guess I did know that, but that doesn't mean it's not screwed up. There really should be a disclaimer on admissions material, if it's going to happen, so students are aware. Of course, schools shouldn't be forced to feed their students to the military to begin with.

Anonymous said...

This is actually the core part of the No Student Left Behind act, that and standardized testing for everyone.