In a new report, the UK’s Demilitarise Education (dEd) finds that, in a survey sample, a small majority of university STEM students would prefer civilian work over military work – if civilian work was available.
Importantly, dEd finds that preferences for military work are related to external factors, such as ongoing conflicts, or exposure to arms industry recruitment: “Those [students] that were approached for military work at higher rates… showed the strongest preference for military work.”
dEd’s report shows the importance of generating non-military career pathways, as well the effectiveness of weapons industry recruitment tactics – tactics that begin as early as primary school. dEd’s research demonstrates the importance of removing weapons company influence from Australian primary and secondary education.