Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)

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From Draft NOtices, January-March 2022

 Ethnic Studies Take 2: The Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum

— Isidro Ortiz, PHD
The Covid-19 pandemic has exacted a heavy toll on education and posed many unprecedented challenges to educators at all levels. As reported by Emma Dorn and her colleagues in “COVID-19 and education: The lingering effects of unfinished learning,” during the 2020-21 academic year, “the impact of the pandemic on k-12 student learning was significant.” Moreover, “the pandemic widened preexisting opportunity and achievement gaps, hitting historically disadvantaged students hardest.” Students in high schools became more likely to drop out of school, and “high school seniors, especially those from lowincome families, are less likely to go on to post-secondary education.” At the same time, the Defense Department has announced a new STEM strategic plan that would further militarize the nation’s schools. The plan would focus on student populations regarded as “underserved and underrepresented in STEM,” including military children, racial minorities and female students.

While these developments do not bode well for anti-militarism struggles, all hope is not lost. They have been accompanied by the rise of a counterhegemonic movement that has catalyzed the development of a new curriculum, the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (LESMC), that has significant potential to develop two essentials for future action against militarism: critical agency and self-efficacy.

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From Draft NOtices, January-March 2022

Female Draft Registration Decision Delayed, for Now

— Rick Jahnkow
Language that would have expanded draft registration to include women was, fortunately, pulled from the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) before Congress approved the bill in December. Pres. Biden then signed the NDAA on December 27, 2021.

Previously, the House, Senate and Biden were expected to approve the NDAA with registration of women included, but when the NDAA appeared headed for a deadlock in the Senate, an agreement to remove the provision was negotiated in order to secure votes from anti-feminist Republican senators who opposed the drafting of women. As a result, the current system of only registering males will continue to be in effect.

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From Draft NOtices, October-December 2021

Ethnic Studies: Take One

— Isidro Ortiz, PHD

The late 1960s and early ‘70s witnessed widespread calls for ethnic studies in higher education. Across the country, these calls translated into the establishment of ethnic studies departments and programs, such as the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at San Diego State University. Like other units of its kind, this department has served as a vehicle for unprecedented instruction, pathbreaking scholarship, and community engagement. Its institutionalization promoted the democratization of higher education. 

Almost 50 years after the movement for ethnic studies in higher education emerged, one of the most significant developments in educational circles has been the rise of a movement for ethnic studies in K-12 schools. The movement has encompassed educators, students, and members of the community at large. It has reflected the ethnic and racial diversity of today’s schools and promises to continue to bridge the boundaries that have existed among communities.

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Ninth CIRCUIT COURT RULING: CONFRONTING MILITARISM BY USING EQUAL ACCESS TO HIGH SCHOOLS

When the military comes to your local high school, you have a legal right to give students an opposing view. This has been the position taken by federal district courts in Florida, Pennsylvania and Illinois and two federal appellate courts. The most broadly-worded decision came from a case that COMD took to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the 1980s. Here is the background:

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