IN 2016 the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC), a Pentagon-funded programme that provides military-style training to high-school pupils, notched up its centenary. The occasion was marked with balls, dinners and fun runs. Today the mood among JROTC units is less celebratory. On February 14th a former JROTC cadet opened fire at a high school in Parkland, Florida, killing 14 students and three teachers. When the shooter, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, was arrested by authorities, he was wearing a polo shirt emblazoned with the JROTC crest. As if this were not enough, days after the shooting it emerged that in 2016 Mr Cruz’s unit had received $10,827 from the National Rifle Association.
This is not the first time the JROTC has faced public scrutiny. Parents and advocacy groups have criticised the programme, which offers courses in military history and marksmanship, for steering pupils towards the armed services rather than higher education. Such recruitment efforts, they say, target pupils in poor minority neighbourhoods. The JROTC...Continue reading
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