A Graduation Gift From Uncle Sam

By Guy Garcia

Armed-forces recruiters are catching flak for paying schools to get scouting information about students. The City of Los Angeles board of education passed a measure last week that stops the district from selling the names and addresses of high school students to military recruiters. The board was responding to complaints from parents, who consider the practice an invasion of student privacy. Since 1971 the district has been selling the names of juniors and seniors for 3 cents apiece. Last year it made $8,081 from the list, which school officials say was used only to cover clerical costs. The Pentagon acknowledges that buying lists from high schools is a common way for the military to target potential recruits.

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart