High School Course in ... Domestic Security

Posted by Alex in Weapons & War on June 12, 2009 at 1:12 pm


Remember our post about boy scouts trained in anti-terrorism? In one high school in Maryland, you can even take courses in domestic security – but before you cry foul, consider this: it may simply be a good career move for the kids.

Meade High School, where Edler teaches, made its own history this year. The long-troubled public high school become one of the first in the nation to offer a four-year course in domestic security. The goal: to help graduates build careers in one of America’s few growth industries.

"This course will help me get a top-secret security clearance," said Darryl Bagley, an eager 15-year-old. "That way I can always get a job."

Meade offers its 2,150 students a standard high school curriculum, including electives like advanced calculus and carpentry. But the 90 ninth-graders who chose the new homeland security program this last school year focused on topics torn from the headlines: Islamic jihadism, nuclear arms, cyber-crime, domestic militias and the like.

New themes even were added to their science, social studies and English classes.

"There’s a lot of homeland security issues in ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ " said Bill Sheppard, the program coordinator. "Like, how do you deal with infiltration in your own family?"

Bob Drogin of the Los Angeles Times has the story of agents in the making: Link (Photo: Chris Usher / LA Times)


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8 comments to "High School Course in ... Domestic Security"

  1. artbot
    June 12th, 2009 at 3:08 pm

    This won't end well...

  2. Avarana
    June 12th, 2009 at 4:08 pm

    "There’s a lot of homeland security issues in ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ " said Bill Sheppard, the program coordinator. "Like, how do you deal with infiltration in your own family?"

    Well, how about poisoning the lovers?

  3. Tempscire
    June 12th, 2009 at 7:52 pm

    That's probably an interesting program. I'm a little concerned about the implications about the importance of a mere high school education for our security people, however.

  4. Vonskippy
    June 13th, 2009 at 12:06 am

    Great, now we get to look forward to "no moron left behind" publicly educated dumbasses keeping us "safe" from ourselves.

  5. myocean
    June 13th, 2009 at 11:51 am

    Meade High School is located on Fort Meade, which is the home to the National Security Agency. Some colleges now have degrees in the field of Homeland Security. So some of these "morons" will at least have a college education.

  6. Tracie
    June 13th, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    "Islamic jihadism, nuclear arms, cyber-crime, domestic militias and the like."

    Are the domestic militias considered good or bad? Considering its included in THAT list, probably not good.

  7. Skipweasel
    June 13th, 2009 at 3:06 pm

    VonSkippy - whaddyer mean "look forward" - ain't it like that already?

  8. The Slapster
    June 13th, 2009 at 9:02 pm

    @myocean: Yeah, my older brother went there back in the mid 80s. I went to the middle school on Base, and when it was time to move up, my folks coughed up & sent me to a Catholic High School. Meade has a lonnnnnng reputation as being pretty sub-par. Just because it shares real estate with NSA doesn't make it an institution you'd moe closer to so your kids could go there.


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