Conservatives are jumping on author Stephen King for his remarks at a recent Library of Congress event, speaking to a group of high school students about the importance of reading. According to transcripts, the writer said: “I don’t want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don’t, then you’ve got the Army, Iraq, I don’t know, something like that. It’s, it’s not as bright. So, that’s my little commercial for that.”

Before he is castigated out of proportion to the remarks, it’s important to remember that Mr. King is not an elected official, nor does he present himself as a leader of any interest group or cause. And he has never been reticent about expressing his mostly liberal political views.

Still, the comments were sure to offend. For generations, parents have held up to their children the threat of dire career consequences if they did not finish high school or college. A few decades ago, it was manual labor: “Do you want to end up digging ditches for a living?” The threat of facing IEDs in Iraq is not an appropriate update.

It’s true that for many poor, rural young men and women, the military is an important vocational option. Attend a high school graduation in Maine’s more rural counties, and scan the program to see the proof – many are bound for the military. And it’s a sensible option – the military offers training, regular meals, shelter, medical care and – as the old recruiting slogan said – the chance to see the world.

Until the Iraq war began, the military rarely took young men and women who did not have high school or GED diplomas. And furthermore, the military is not necessarily an educational dead end. Many sign up under a deal that has the military helping pay for college after the service is completed.

Admittedly, Iraq has changed assumptions about signing up for military service: seemingly endless tours of duty, few opportunities to learn skills while patrolling violence-prone neighborhoods, and, of course, the very real risk of injury or death. And it is the young, poor, rural and inner-city recruits who end up wounded or dead.

Mr. King, whose beneficence has made him a hero to Bangor and Maine, would have done better to come with a different bad scenario for those who fail to get educated.