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Starfleet youth devlopment program

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JamesTKirk12 said:
http://www.njrotc.navy.mil/

https://www.usarmyjrotc.com/

www.sfgate.com/education/article/SAN-FRANCISCO-School-board-votes-to-dump-JROTC-2484670.php

In America's high schools the military operates JROTC programs. Do you think Starfleet would operate programs like JROTC in Federation schools? Do you think a Starfleet youth program would be controversial and some educators would decry Starfleet's militarization of youth?
Click to expand...

Speaking as someone who did four years of Army JROTC in high school, it is hardly military, though part of that could be growing up in a military household since birth. God, some of those other cadets... :guffaw:

I could see something similar in Federation schools, but they do seem to be more of a hands-on, on the job training type of organization, giving them a chance to get experience working alongside actual Starfleet personnel in bases and such. They do early entry into the Academy too, which can start very early. Just look at the entry candidates in the first season episode "Coming of Age". He was just barely 16.

I'm sure there would be controversy in anything involving Starfleet. Even though it regularly claims to not be a military organization there are always going to be plenty of people opposed to it, particularly anything involving children. Hmm, that could have been a fun plotline in TNG had they gone with Geordi as a ship's school teacher. Field trips and training for some of the older youth and such. Though I think we would be making a lot of Reading Rainbow in Space jokes had they gone down that route.
 
Given they let Wesley play on the bridge and take entrance exams to Starfleet Academy at the tender age of 15.... it's fair to assume they have something.
 
My son is part of ROTC at his high school. It has been nothing short of a great thing for him, it has instilled a sense of responsibility and camaraderie that you really can't teach at home.

I think its a solid program whether a teen plans on joining the military or not (my son doesn't). So I think the Federation would have something similar for its youth.
 
Starfleet doesn't think of themselves as military. Except when they are.

I don't think having Starfleet programs in school would be that controversial, any more than having any other kind of career training programs in school. They market themselves as explorers, not soldiers. But I guess that would be harder to do after the Dominion War,
 
When your organization, which has a rank based hierarchy, is the primary defense force of a state... it's a military. The rest is just spin.
 
I can definitely see the Federation creating all sorts of youth programs, not just military-style ones, like our ROTC, but also things like science camps, internships in all sorts of fields, something for budding young inventors and scientists. The possibilities would be endless.
 
A couple of my my friends were involved in the Civil Air Patrol cadets. They are now involved in rewarding Air Force careers. They told me without CAP they wouldn't be where they are now. Didn't you know that ten percent of Air Force Academy students were CAP cadets. I think it would be stupid for Starfleet to not offer a similar experience for youth. Just because they are called cadets doesn't mean that they don't have normal childhoods. I know JROTC and CAP cadets involved in other school activities like music and sports.

 
Maybe Starfleet does have such a program, but when has the show even had the opportunity to show it? Of the three prominent teenagers seen growing up within the Federation, one was already assigned starship bridge duties at fifteen, the other had no interest in Starfleet, and the third was stuck working in his uncle's bar until he decided to join Starfleet against his uncle's wishes.
 
JamesTKirk12 said:
http://www.njrotc.navy.mil/

https://www.usarmyjrotc.com/

www.sfgate.com/education/article/SAN-FRANCISCO-School-board-votes-to-dump-JROTC-2484670.php

In America's high schools the military operates JROTC programs. Do you think Starfleet would operate programs like JROTC in Federation schools? Do you think a Starfleet youth program would be controversial and some educators would decry Starfleet's militarization of youth?
Click to expand...
I can only say, if the Germans were doing this, the whole world would be troubled. In my imagination there's no such thing in the Federation, because the Federation is far more advanced. No nationalism, no patriotism, no militarization. Starfleet is not a military organization. And while the protagonists of the show are in Starfleet because they travel to the stars, the vast majority of Federation citizens is not.
 
What is it with the all the accounts lately that are just here to advertize the Armed Forces? Did someone high up decide that there aren't enough Trekkies signing up?

Oh well, Yvan Et Nioj!
 
JarodRussell JROTC programs are not the Hitler Youth or Republican super patriotic youth military cult. I have friends in Air Force JROTC who are very progressive. Some people don't join JROTC out of patriotism, they join because they think it is fun to play soldier or think it is a good way to get extra rank. No one in JROTC is pressured to join the armed forces. JROTC Is not Hitler Youth, JROTC is basically a military themed club. I think a Starfleet youth program or Starfleet themed club would be more like C.A.P., the Civil Air Patrol. The Civil Air Patrol is the official auxilliary of the U.S. Air Force. Not only it has a cadet program it also does emergency services and search and rescue. The C.A.P. has done very good things for my community. I believe Starfleet would have its own cadet program that does search and rescue on the planetary level and their cadets would take field trips to Starfleet bases and outposts. JarodRussell a cadet program does not have to teach patriotism or loyalty to the Federation. Kids could just do Starfleet cadets just for fun or just to get a brief glimpse of what Starfleet life is like.






 
Okay I think we've had enough of this.

I guess recruiters are getting desperate.

:lol:



"Hailing Frequencies Closed"
 
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