CHICAGO: Dozens of teens dressed in uniforms provided by the US Marines stand at attention in the gym of a Chicago public high school as a drill sergeant goes through a list of the day’s do’s and don’ts.

Bring your books to class. Come for extra help if you need it. And wear your uniform with pride.

One in 10 public high school students in Chicago wears a military uniform to school and takes classes — including how to shoot a gun — from retired veterans.

That number is expected to rise as junior military reserve programmes expand across the country now that a congressional cap of 3,500 units has been lifted from the nearly century-old scheme.

Proponents of the junior reserve programmes say they provide stability and a sense of purpose for troubled youth and help to instil values such as leadership and responsibility.

But opponents say the programmes divert critical resources from crumbling public schools and lead to a militarisation of US society.

“To call these young people child soldiers might be technically inaccurate, but it does reveal the truth of it,” said Oscar Castro, a spokesman for the National Youth and Militarism Program, an advocacy group.

Military recruiters already have the right to give presentations in public schools and to access databases with the contact information of all public school students whose parents do not remove their children from the list.

While military officials say the junior reserve programmes are not used as recruiting tools, about 30 to 50 per cent of cadets eventually enlist, according to congressional testimony by the chiefs of staff of the various armed services in February 2000.

This is particularly troubling given that the programmes are concentrated in low-income and minority neighbourhoods, said Sheena Gibbs, a spokeswoman for the Chicago branch of the American Friends Service Committee which lobbies against the programmes.

“If you want to teach discipline and leadership then do it for everyone and don’t make them wear (military) uniforms,” Gibbs said.

“Students (at regular schools) protest that they have to still share books but the military academy has laptops.”

At Chicago’s Marine Military Math and Science Academy, teachers in uniform lead classes in military history, civics, health, and physical fitness.—AFP