A barely noticed clause in a recent federal education law now requires government-funded schools to hand over personal information about its juniors and seniors, including names, addresses and phone numbers.

The recently passed legislation, known as the No Child Left Behind Law, was passed in January and pumps billions of federal tax dollars into 22,000 schools nationwide.

The law also stipulates, however, that for a school to receive this funding it must provide the military with this vital information about its students.

This law has had some parents and students across the country up in arms, because it means that young adults who are already required by law to register with the United States military at age 18 can now be reached as early as ages 15 or 16.

For impressionable youth of such an age, it might seem as though this is too young.

One group that feels this way about the new law is the New York City chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Executive Director Donna Lieberman issued a statement saying that the law infringes on the rights of the nation’s youth.

“Schools should be doing a lot more to protect the privacy of their students,” Lieberman said.

Lieberman also said that one of her main objections to the legislation was that it offered an “opt-out” privilege in the law that prevented the release of personal information. However, she said she doesn’t think this goes far enough.

“This law is completely inadequate in giving students and parents the option to avoid unwanted military recruitment,” she said.

The “opt-out” option is a written form that must be filled out and signed, then sent in to the military in order to then be processed.

Often, Lieberman said, students are forced to seek out this paperwork for themselves instead of having it readily provided for them.

Lieberman said that even when it is easily available, this “opt-out” notice does little for those who might not be so enthusiastic about the military.

She supported her claim by saying that the Boston educational system, which has over 7,500 juniors and seniors, included the “opt-out” notice in a student handbook but got less than a dozen replies.

Beyond making it government policy to give out the addresses and phone numbers of students nationwide, this new legislation also gives the military much greater access to high school campuses that were previously almost off-limits to any recruiting.

Before this law went into effect, recruiters in most states were only allowed access on campus if a student requested to speak with them, and a guidance counselor was to be present for the meeting.

Now recruiters are allowed to hold military fairs and hand out information on a regular basis.

This type of on-campus access has historically only been allowed at colleges and universities. With an older student body, recruiters are permitted to actively pursue students much more freely.

Regardless of some negative reaction to this law, not everyone across the nation is concerned about wider military recruitment.

University of Wisconsin sophomore Dan Fuhrmann said that finding willing enlistees is extremely important at this time in history. He said that he was lured by the financial support that the military offers but has changed how he feels about the military as a whole.

“I have really had a change of heart toward the military in the last two-plus years,” Fuhrmann said. “I first joined the [National] Guard for the college money, but now I am in it for other reasons. I am proud to serve this country, whether it be in times of peace or war. It has taught me so much about life and has helped me mature as a person.”

He said that especially since the Sept. 11 attacks this is an extremely important time for nationwide support of the military and its recruitment process.