Military Service

My jaw dropped in horror and disbelief as I read Edwin Dorn’s modest proposal to tie college financial aid to military service (Commentary, Feb. 24). At a time when most democracies have recognized free and universal education as an intrinsic social good, I am still forced to take out $120,000 in student loans as it is. Under Dorn’s plan I would not even have that “opportunity” without first being coerced to submit my body to involuntary servitude.

And in response to Dorn’s assertion that today’s college students do not learn about self-sacrifice and honor, I say that forgoing health insurance to help afford graduate school tuition has taught me a lot about self-sacrifice, and the good people who risked arrest to protest the senseless murder of Iraqis during the Gulf War taught me more about honor than any drill sergeant ever could.

ELLIOT KAMIN

La Habra