A boy with a rifle was shown on the front page of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette on May 24. He was in Worcester South High Community School in front of scores of students. This is a clear violation of the Worcester school policy of no weapons in school of any kind, not even fake or toy weapons. This is a zero-tolerance policy.

The boy is a cadet in JROTC. When JROTC came to Worcester, it promised there would be no training with rifles in the schools. The school administration agreed that such rifles violated the no-weapons policy.

I am not surprised that JROTC has broken its promise of no weapons on campus, as the JROTC program is just a pretext to recruit children into the military. JROTC needs guns and uniforms to recruit.


The JROTC actually has set back our children by claiming that national security is legitimate high school pedagogy. It actually misleads our children to think that Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo are needed for national security.

The photo in the T&G shows that our children are being sucked into a weapons culture of bomb first, torture second and never negotiate.

JROTC costs Worcester residents close to $250,000 per annum. It is time that this costly and harmful program is abolished from Worcester schools.

GORDON T. DAVIS

Worcester