Conclusion

Abstract

For cadets, the MEI is a literal battle zone, not of skills or knowledge but of survival. The daily practices and rituals at the MEI are sat-urated with militarized meanings shaping the way cadets understand their social world and themselves as they move from school ground to battleground. The militarization of public schools and educational policies could not have occurred without the simultaneous advancement of the global and domestic neoliberal political and cultural project. In this chapter, I revisit central themes in the analysis of militarization and neoliberalism and recap educational theories of socialization and resistance using the MEI and its cadets as an illustrative example. The book concludes with a discussion of current activism taking place around the demilitarization of schools and youth and proposes ways in which to challenge militarization and work to build democratic futures for youth.

On a crisp spring Friday morning, cadets at the MEI just finished morning formation and the “Daily Dozen,” a routine of 12 different calisthenics. They are dividing into teams for an intense game of dodge ball: Third Platoon versus Second Platoon. The game begins with Mr Jones shouting out the school motto: “Stay Alert! Stay Alive!” Cadets race to the center of the concrete court scrambling for the red rubber balls. As the balls are released into the air, cadets yell “Fire!” With four balls zigzagging back and forth across the small court, it becomes a frenzied blur of red balls and bodies, a literal combat zone: “Fire!” “Fire!” “Fire!” As the losing team pleas for more “ammunition” from the teachers, flying red balls come in contact with cadets’ shoulders, knees, and backs. The loud slap of a rubber ball hitting a cadet results in another cadet crying out triumphantly: “You’re dead!”