Education—By Whom, For What?

Abstract

MUCH is being said about the educational benefits of universal military training. The spokesmen for the armed forces do not themselves base their arguments for military training in peacetime on the educational benefits to be derived from it. They stress military necessity. They also point out that there will be concomitant educational benefits to the youth of the Nation which should not be ignored. A number of civilian agencies, however, support peacetime universal military training on the grounds that it will provide large educational benefits to the youth of the nation. Spokesmen for these agencies argue that this training will reduce illiteracy, improve health, provide vocational education, and prepare for citizenship. It is indeed encouraging to find large groups of organized citizens arguing for the abolition of illiteracy, for the improvement of health, for the development of vocational proficiency, and for the promotion of good citizenship, all of which are basic to the welfare of our society. But it is difficult to understand why anyone should argue that a year of compulsory military training in peacetime can be justified as a means of achieving these values when our public schools and our colleges are already organized for exactly that purpose. Do the civilian organizations that support military training on educational grounds attribute benefits to military training that the representatives of the armed forces do not themselves claim for it? If they do, as now appears to be the case, it is imperative to clarify the issue by examining the facilities that already exist for the achievement of educational benefits that are attributed to universal military training, and to consider the kind of training that would be provided under military auspices to achieve these same benefits.