‘Appalled’ by ROTC article

To the Editor:

I was appalled to read in the Oct, 27 issue of the New York Teacher the article “Passing muster: Lane campus junior ROTC cadets noted for good grades, good citizenship.” There is even a video of the program on the UFT website.

There was then a letter on the subject in the Nov. 10 issue headed, “ROTC an important program.” The author wrote, “I would love to see all New York City public high schools with an ROTC program.”

In the 1960s, students at some colleges protested against the presence of ROTC on campus. Langston Hughes said in his poem “Give us our Peace,” “Give us a peace that will enlist a mighty army serving human kind, not just an army geared to kill, but trained to help the living mind. An army trained to shape our common good and bring about a world of brotherhood.”

The ROTC, with its drills and guns, does not fit Langston’s description of the army he had in mind.

Kenneth P. Neilson, retired