Survey Education and People’s Understanding of the Military Conducted by: Madison Albrecht June 2013

In order to get a better idea of people’s understanding and appreciation of the military, I sent an survey to approximately 100 individuals, both parents and students who live in the Boerne area. These students had the opportunity to participate in a previous project in which they sent letters, cards, care packages, or Girl Scout Cookies overseas. The following results are divided into 2 categories, the 1 st where they reported their knowledge of the military prior to the appreciation project, the 2 nd where they reported upon the effect of the project and its impact on their understanding.

Part #1 Lack of understanding and appreciation of the military amongst parents and students

60% very aware 20% generally aware 20% Don't Think About it

33% very aware 44% generally aware 11% not aware 11% Don't Think About it

Conclusion: While 60% of parents are very aware, only 33% of students are very aware of the thousands of military men and women serving overseas. This may be due to the fact that only 20% of parents have the time to discuss the military regularly with their children and only 33% of students learn about the military in school

40% very aware 40% generally aware 20% Don't think about it

33% Don't Think About it 44% Generally understood 11% very aware 11% Didn’t understand

Conclusion: Only 40% of parents are very aware, and only 11% of students are very aware of the military and the sacrifices that they make to protect our country. This may be due to the fact that only 20% of parents have the time to discuss the military regularly with their children and only 33% of students learn about the military in school

40% very aware 40% Generally aware 20% not aware

0% very aware 56% not aware 22% Generally aware 22% Didn’t think about it

Conclusion: Only 40% of parents are very aware, and 0% of students are very aware that many military men and women serving overseas will get no appreciation letters or care packages from home. While only 20% of parents were completely unaware to this fact, over 78% of students either didn’t realize or never thought about military appreciation mail/packages.

20% Discuss often 70% Discuss sometimes 10% Discuss very rarely

33% Learned about/ did something to appreciate them in School 67% Did not Learn about/ do something to appreciate them in School

Conclusion: Only 20% of parents often discuss the military and the sacrifices made with their children. Additionally, over 67% of Students do nothing to learn about or appreciate the military in school. Therefore since students generally learn from either their parents or their teachers, many students do not have ample opportunity to learn about the military since many parents don’t discuss it often and teachers usually don’t teach it.

Part 2 After a similar project to educate and help students to better appreciate the military, there was a large impact among both students and parents

100 % of Students reported an increased level of awareness

100 % of students reported a greater level of respect

10% No change in appreciation 90% of students reported a greater level of appreciation

90% of students said they would be more likely than before to want to help. 10% No change in likeliness to help

100 % believe that people need to be more aware

100 % believe that it is important

Conclusion: As a result of this project, students and parents gained a greater awareness, respect, and appreciation for the military. They were also more inclined to help in future projects to support the military. Of those who participated in the survey, 100% of people believe that others need to be more aware of the military and believe that another program similar to this would be important in educating other.