Welcome to Milton High School, where fear is a teacher's best tool and every student is a soldier in the war on terror. A struggling public school outside the nation's capital, Milton sat squarely at the center of two trends: growing fear of resurgent terrorism and mounting pressure to run schools as job training sites. In response, the school established a specialized Homeland Security program.

A Curriculum of Fear takes us into Milton for a day-to-day look at how such a program works, what it means to students and staff, and what it says about the militarization of U.S....