End All JROTC Programs in the Quad Cities: Stop the Indoctrination
End All JROTC Programs in the Quad Cities: Stop the Indoctrination
Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) programs were originally designed to provide teenagers with structure, discipline, and a sense of patriotism within schools. On paper, these programs claim to instill leadership and civic responsibility. In reality, however, JROTC has become little more than a vehicle for military indoctrination grooming high school students to embrace authoritarianism, nationalism, and uncritical obedience to power.
The Myth of Discipline and Fitness
While JROTC advertises itself as a program that promotes physical fitness and discipline, the reality is far less impressive. Physical training is minimal, and the discipline taught is not about critical thinking or self‑determination but about conformity and obedience. Students are conditioned to follow orders rather than question authority, which undermines the very principles of democratic education.
A Sanitized History
The curriculum offered through JROTC presents a sanitized version of U.S. history, one that is blind to oppression, colonialism, and systemic injustice. Instead of teaching students about the struggles of marginalized communities, the program glorifies military achievements while ignoring the darker realities of war, occupation, and state violence. This selective storytelling deprives young people of the tools they need to understand the complexities of history and the responsibilities of citizenship.
Grooming for Authoritarianism
JROTC does not simply teach patriotism; it teaches a narrow, exclusionary form of nationalism often tied to Christian fundamentalism and authoritarian values. Students are encouraged to see military service as the highest form of civic duty, while dissent, protest, and alternative visions of community are dismissed or stigmatized. This grooming process prepares young people not for leadership in a diverse society, but for submission to rigid hierarchies.
Militarization of Youth
At a time when the United States military has been implicated in the killing of unarmed civilians abroad and when police forces increasingly resemble military units patrolling American streets, it is dangerous to normalize military culture in our schools. JROTC programs blur the line between education and recruitment, turning classrooms into pipelines for militarization. Instead of nurturing critical thinkers, they risk producing young people conditioned to accept violence and authoritarianism as normal.
The Call to End Indoctrination
We must ask ourselves: what kind of future are we building when our children are taught to obey without question, to glorify war, and to ignore oppression? Ending JROTC programs in the Quad Cities is not about rejecting discipline or patriotism, it is about rejecting indoctrination. True discipline comes from self‑determination, community responsibility, and the pursuit of justice. True patriotism comes from holding our nation accountable to its ideals of equality and freedom.
Our schools should be places of empowerment, not recruitment. Our youth deserve education, not indoctrination.
Ending JROTC is a step toward reclaiming education as a space for critical thought, egalitarian values, and genuine community building. If we want a generation prepared to confront injustice, resist authoritarianism, and build a more humane society, we must stop grooming them to be soldiers and start empowering them to be citizens.
