>> reporter: but they face a consortium that has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars over decades to retain the rights to the water supply. and a reminder that you can always keep up to date for all of the news on our website. that's at aljazeera.com. >> hi, i'm lisa fletcher and you are in the stream. are the high school graduates enlists to escape the status quo. hear what gets thousands to join active duty every year. >> separate and unequal education, why the department of education is investigating. what doing what you love might not be the best choice for your

career path. >> we are here and bringing in all of the feedback and we have a lot of feedback on a number of areas today. starting with the military. >> yes, a lot of feedback on the military service, a lot of vets and active duty and krcritical. we have a vet... however, a job. and also the school benefits. but matt saying this is a road to nowhere... >> what factors do come into play when deciding whether to enlist in the military services? that

is what a new documentary is taking on. they are following high school students throughout the year. >> there are always wars and that is part of a human characteristic and truly the only way to be free is through war. >> and the education is coming with a price too. they announced the cuts to the tuition assistance, they'll no longer fund additional costs associated with attending college like books and compute computers. >> i want to enlist when i graduate. >> that is crazy, man, like augur going in. >> four years of school though. >> what goes into the decision to risk their lives for our country and will the tuition

benefit cuts impact the enlistments? we have the director of government affairs and joined the marine corps at age 17. also thomas and also a form erma arena that served in afghanistan and currently senior at georgetown university. thank you for being here. will, you joined at 17 and why did you choose to enlist? >> it was an informed decision. i took eight months to decide. i talked to a t lo of people, and talked to family and did the early stage networking opportunities. that helped me i think to make a decision i was happy with. it was an early age for sure. i was 17. i had my family's support. >> is military a tradition in your family? >> it is not.

>> are you an anomaly to enlist without the military tradition? >> people understand that service is part of the culture and what is important to them and taking action is important. >> thomas, a lot of generalization of who joins the military and kids looking for a way out and what type of americans do you see joining after high school? >> i joined back in 2006 and shipped to boot camp in 2007 at the height of the iraq surge. i was in the infantry and the marine corps and all walks of life, a kid with a master's degree and american wrestler and coming from that experience and

two deployments to afghanistan i can't put my finger on the type of people. no one category i assign to everybody. all walks of life and signing up at the time of war and embraced that. >> so it is not typically kids from the low income or low education? >> that point is worthwhile. the fact that the individuals who go into the military are a diverse crowd and offers you the opportunity to interact with them. college is important and you are interacting with a lot of people too, and in the military, you are forced to complete a mission that sometimes it is life or death. >> and diversities and motivations to list... saying...

lisa that is what mentioned. so, will, right now, what do you think is the motivating force for these young men and women to join? because when i was 20 years old, it was 9/11, i know that prompted a lot of people to join, now in 2014, what is causing a surge? >> a big part of that is considering what the military is offering, experience, education, potentially a future to go on and get a higher degree with the gi bill and a lot of factors that people are taking into consideration when looking to join the military. it is not for everyone. not everyone is good in the military. but a lot of forces play. depending on the person's background they may be looking for that. >> there was a study and

determined that colleges are the biggest competition for recruiters in the military, and now, we are losing tuition assistance benefits, how can the military compete if it is not going to offer the benefits to the degree that they have in the past when the kids want an education? >> well, from what i understand, lisa, the tuition assistance that is just active duty service members and the gi bill is still there and that is what i am on and will used when going to school. that is still a big draw. as far as the military competeing with college, you don't really, it is not one or the other, it is a sense of service, and for me, you know, school was always in the picture but at the same time i wanted to fulfill my military duty. >> we'll get a clip from the documentary series the edge of

18, this is military school classmates and sitting and talking about the willingness to fight. >> if something happens with russia, we are all a little bit, you know, not excited but ready. that is what we want to do. >> i am the brother, i have been through a lot with them and you know, i don't want to see them on one of the plaques in the foyer to have passed away. >> thomas, you were deployed twice, those guys are sounding confident and you have to be, and how prepared mentally do you think they really are with what they are going to face? >> that is tough to say. i mean, a lot of training. i don't go to a military college, whatever they are talking about, there is a good level of discipline at the schools. but again, war is war. nothing really prepares you for it.

when the first bullet flies people react differently. >> we are talking about the u.s. navy cutting the tuition assistance and do you agree... will, what is your take on this? >> the military is experience of empowerment. you learn how to become a leader and have the experiences you wouldn't otherwise. to cut the tuition and that allows to improve the military as a whole, that is a dangerous territory to be in. >> thank you will and thomas for joining us today. coming up, 50 chicago schools closed down last year and what is the impact and what are the conditions? challenging, do what you love.

>> for a long time i was afraid to pursue a professional dance career. no one makes it in this profession. >> should students choose

>> on the last day of school i decided to shave me head. >> welcome back, you are watched a time lapsed video that was created to map the changes throughout high school. aljazeera america's new series edge of 18 is a protrait of the

generation and the high schoolers are captured on video during the final year of high school and the challenges of attending school in a violence ridden area of chicago. >> i don't want to end up like that. you never know when it is going to happen. >> the last year chicago voted to close down 50 schools and families are still feeling the impact. and the u.s. department of education is investigating alleged civil rights violations on chicago schools that are offering separate and unequal education to students. joining us the reverend wilson from the special assistant to the chicago schools and senior adviser to jessie jackson. we have a reporter from education week and covering the schools across the u.s. and

thank you both for joining us. we mentioned chicago closed 50 schools and impacting 11,000 kids. why'd they close the schools? >> close the under performing and under utilized schools. when the proposal surfaced it was touted as a way to address a looming deficit. by the time it came to a vote, the main reason to close poor performing and under utilized schools. >> chicago is not the only city, the schools are closing in the cities across the country and why the pushback in this chicago area? >> the real issue is that this is a move to privatize public education, it is not to neighboring education better or stride a better high quality public education for public students. we are pushing back because we have studied the school closings

and 159 schools closed in chicago and it is not improving the quality of education and now we have vacant and unused buildings and some of the buildings replaced with charter schools, instead of public schools. the charter schools are offering a different curriculum and reduced in some of the instances and the children are attending schools with no gym or art or music and without the culture things that make the kids more successful. >> isn't that the case for the public schools across the country, the arts are being eliminated because of the funding. >> it is how you fund and where you decide to allocate the resource. an affluent schools are quite effective and efficient because they base the funding on

property taxes so that you are discriminated not just african-americans but discriminating against all children. >> we asked the community would chicago invest more if not the south side? and the answers... saying yes, sir... reverend, question to you, would chicago invest more in the public schools if not low income or minority majority? >> they wouldn't. the communities surrounding the schools wouldn't allow it. look at payton high and the schools in the whitney young,

they have created selected enrollment schools in predominantly white or communities where the income levels of the residents are higher, those schools are quite stable, they are quite diverse, they have a diverse student pongs and faculty, but the neighborhood schools in black or brown communities are overcrowded and under resourced in the african-american communities. take a select diet where the complaint was filed, that school had a new gym and now the student os are phasing outs the diet, the students are asked to take gym, pe online. that is ridiculous. >> that is crazy. we reached out to the chicago public schools and the they have declined to come on. they are saying kids are doing better than ever.

how do you respond to that? >> well, the cps report was a mid year report and talked about saving about $41 million and the attendance rate for some of the students that were relocated higher, lower, less issues with the behavior concerns and they said in some of the core areas those students were doing better than performed in the older schools. >> we have just ten seconds. >> we have to wait for the 12 month report to get a better sense of what really happened. >> thank you both. coming up next, how many times have kids heard this from their parents? >> looking at life you have to be realistic and have to have a way to support yourself. >> should graduating seniors going for doing what they love paths? we'll be right back.

>> first i wanted to pursue science or law or something like that. the more i thought about it i can't imagine my life without dance. >> welcome back. that was a clip from the series edge of 18. do what you love is a refrain that the students hear. is that realistic for everyone or the less risky jobs are the better choice? joins is a career adviser. and angela who you saw in the clip. and she's a dance student at the university of utah. welcome to both of you. this is something you struggled with. your a passionate dancer and a student and you had a choice.

why'd you pursue your passion? >> well, i thought about it a lot. throughout my senior year and throughout my life i have been thinking about these two things but in the end, you know, i realized that even though i pursue dance, it is leading to greater rewards. i might not become a professional dancer but just following the path will lead to me to so many opportunities that will be way for fulfills if i choose something i don't have an interest in. >> the baby boomer generation is known for encourage couraging the kids to follow their passions. >> in general you don't have to be paid to do what you love. one of the interesting things she's said in the opening piece you had is that she can't imagine her life without dance. but actually most of us can't imagine our life without any of the things that we of.

like going to family dinners, making out with someone you love; all the things that we like to do we do any way. so she probably dance no matter what she does. if she dropped into a war zone and her family was taken to some where where they don't have a house, she'd dance there. >> so i'm not sure she needs to be paid to dance. the fact that she's going to dance no matter where she is in life is separate from how will she make money. >> what you said is a nightmare to the immigrant parents, but my parents encouraged us to follow our passions and we asked the community, do what you love? is this just for privileged students? this is what the community said listens

michael says... so do you think this advice of do what you love is purely for the privileged elites of the world? >> i don't agree with that completely. i wouldn't consider myself elite. i think i'm lucky i haveparents that have helped me and supported me through this journey, but i have gotten help from a lot of other people. you know, a lot of about it, asking for help and finding those opportunities where you can, you know, look for help. you can't do it on your own. i know some people want to. a big thing about following your

dreams is having a mentor and someone to help you and these people can, you know, help you whether it is financely or emotionally and that is something that helped me. >> we did a show with former ivy league professors on it and don't go to ivy leagues. doesn't this really boil down on how i don't define success, if it is making money, then she's not making the right choice, but if defined by satisfaction and happiness that is the logical choice. >> she's not going to be happy if she's 27 and not able to support herself. so it doesn't matter if you are a rich kid or not. people don't feel good about

themselves if they are not making money. society shows they value you by paying you money. so whatever angela envisions what she's going to do, no way she envisions that her parents are supporting her at 27. >> the interesting flip side to this, we talked about this earlier, how many friends do we have that made lots of money early on in life and look at them and they are miserable. >> yes, the walking did. they have achieved the checklist of success but i'm not happy. you are a career adviser and what advice would you give to the graduates and this is the advice...

career adviser, what advice do you give them right now and balancing the career, passion, versus or practical? >> well, i love that last piece of advice, marry rich. if you look at people making a living at doing what you want to make a living doing and look at them when they have kids. if you want kids you have to look at how do they have this job that you are dying to have and have a family. and the answer that you will see most often is they are married to somebody that supports them. for example, almost a hundred percent of the people who are writers in new york city are married to someone who is rich. i would say a hundred percent of the independent musicians in the

world are married to somebody that supports them. and angela a hundred percent of dancers in their 20s in new york city or san francisco or a big city have some other source of income, be it, being married or having a second job, or having living in a bathroom and the other person is paying the rent. so the idea that it is an even an option to have this life and doing what you love, you have to question that, and challenge yourself to come up with someone has the life that you are expecting to get. if everything goes right what is the life. >> hang on, hang on. you have two parents very supportive of you pursuing a career or dance, and had she

been your mom, where would you be now and better off or worse off? >> well, you know, i'm still trying to figure this out. i am dancing now, there is always doubt in me. you know, i think honestly i will be fine whatever i choose to do. i'm a hard worker and that is what it is coming down to. as long as i stay focussed and know what i'm doing and work hard i will be fine. >> great conversation. thank you all of you. thanks to all of the guests. edge of 18 airing sunday at 9:00 p.m. eastern. for more, log on to aljazeera america.com.

. >> nato leaders are meeting the ever what's been described as their most crucial summit since the end of the cold war. ukraine is at the top of the agenda. i'm james bays near newport in south wails. ♪ >> updates from moscow have eastern ukraine, where fighting has continued on the've of a possible cease fire. this is al jazeera live from london. iraqi forces launch a defensive.