Scott Harding is associate professor and associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work. He is coauthor of Breaking the War Habit: The Debate over Militarism in American Education, Counter-Recruitment and the Campaign to Demilitarize Public Schools, and Human-Rights Based Approaches to Community Practice in the United States.
Using the enlistment crisis as justification, Project 2025 proposed measures for high schools that blur the lines between career guidance and military recruitment. The Trump administration seems likely to further embed the military in public education.
A recent string of revelations about abuses by the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps presents an opportunity to rein in the military’s presence and power in public schools.