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

SurveyEducation and

People’s Understanding of the Military

Conducted by: Madison AlbrechtJune 2013

• In order to get a better idea of people’s understanding and appreciation of the military, I sent an email 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 1st where they reported their knowledge of the military prior to the appreciation project, the 2nd where they reported upon the effect of the project and its impact on their understanding.

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

parents and students

Parents Who are Aware of the Thousands of Troops Serving Overseas

60% very aware

20% generally aware

20% Don't Think About

it

Students Who are Aware of the Thousands of Troops Serving Overseas

33% very aware

44% generally aware

11% not

aware11%

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

Parent's Understanding of Military Serivice and Sacrifices

40% very aware

40% generally aware

20% Don't think about

it

Student's Understanding of Military Service and Sacrifices

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

Parent’s Awareness that many soldiers never receive letters or care packages

40% very aware

40% Generally

aware

20% not aware

Student’s Awareness that many soldiers never receive letters or care packages

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.

Parents Discussion of the Military with their Children

20% Discuss often

70% Discuss

sometimes

10% Discuss

very rarely

Students who learned about the military or did something to appreciate them in school

33% Learned about/ did something to appreciate

them in School67% 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 2After a similar project to educate and help students to better appreciate the military, there was a large impact among both students and parents

Students who gained an increased level of awareness

100 % of Students reported an increased level of awareness

Students who gained a greater level of respect for the military

100 % of students reported a greater level of respect

Students greater appreciation for the military

10% No change in appreciation

90% of students reported a greater level of appreciation

Students who would be more likely to help support the military through a similar effort in the future

90% of students said they would be more likely than

before to want to help.

10% No change in

likelinessto help

Parents and Students who believe that people need to be more aware about the military and their sacrifices

100 % believe that people need to be more aware

Parents and Students who believe that is important to have programs which help people to batter appreciate the military

and send care packages overseas

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.