I thought this was an interesting news story. It seems people have two distinct issues with the idea of military recruitment in high schools -- first, the idea of letting them do it at all, and second, the way it's being done, by giving out students' names, addresses and phone numbers so they can be targeted with recruitment letters and offers.

I don't really see why the first should be a problem. Promoting the military as a career choice, if it's done at a school careers day for that purpose, is exactly the same as what other industries do. It seems reasonable that the military should be allowed to have that option as well.

The second doesn't strike me as being so innocent. If I was at a school and found out that my name, address and phone number had been given to recruiters, either from the military or anywhere else, I would have SERIOUS problems with that idea.

I'm sure privacy laws here would prevent that happening. You can't just give out people's addresses and phone numbers without their permission -- let alone the idea of doing this to schoolkids! Does the USA not have such privacy laws, or is the military considered to be above them, as a branch of the government?

The other thing which occurs to me is whether US universities do the same thing. I've heard enough stories from US students here about the promotional things they've received from universities, to wonder whether it happens the same way. Or do you only get spammed by the universities you've expressed interest in already?