The very nerve of these people. To think the military has the right to selectively discriminate against idiots! Idiots have rights too, y’know.
Already saw this via a private mail list. Here’s what I said:
Our entire schooling system is a disgrace.
People interested in this should read something, anything,
by John Taylor Gatto. I particularly recommend his =Underground
History of American Education=. It is available for free on
the Internet (http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/) but
I suggest buying a copy. It’s too big and too much to read on
a computer.
The relevant chapter to this topic is Chapter #3 which is available
at http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/3print.html . If reading
this doesn’t cause you to buy the whole book, then there is probably
no hope for you as regards this subject.
ML/NJ
75 percent of those aged 17 to 24 don’t qualify for the military because they are physically unfit, have a criminal record or didn’t graduate high school....
But being a fudge packer or carpet licker is ok.
Look for Obama to funnel money to his buddies in Hawaii.
On the other hand, if you score high in all categories the recruiting office will be peaking in your window at night with faux checks for thousands of dollars.
Doing well on the ASVAB has its negatives too....
Unless the ASVAB has changed, a 6th grader with reasonable thinking skills should be able to pass it.
I remember some VERY poor students who generally couldn’t pass their way out of an open-book, answers given to them, test that passed the ASVAB - one that became a “very high recruiting target” after scoring very high on it (this kid was one of the worst students - academically speaking - that I ever encountered - and definitely someone I wouldn’t have trusted with a pocket knife, much less firearms and other weapons systems the US Military use).
I am curious about something - Who all are they including in these statistics? I know that some public schools actually REQUIRE students to take the ASVAB (the school I use to be employed by required it of Juniors). I knew many students who intentionally marked stupid answers just so that they wouldn’t hear from recruiters...
Not every person who takes the ASVAB is trying to get into the military.
They can still get a law degee from Harvard and edit the Law Review.
One of the most demoralizing tours I ever had was when I was detailed to a MEPS station. The stupidity that our public education system generates is simply breathtaking. You would be amazed how many CatVs there are, especially considering by the time they’ve reached MEPS, they’ve been at least pre-screened to be high school graduates or have a GED. It’s amazing how many have diplomas but are - for all practical purposes - functionally illiterate.
The hope part of the “HOPIE/CHANGIE” scam is the hope that all the faggots are in the 25% that fail.
Because if they get in and get thru boot camp and into a close combat outfit, they’re gonna wind up buried out in the training areas.
“PFC Bruce Bagadonuts, having been AWOL for 30 days, is now declared a deserter.”
“”U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the AP. “I am deeply troubled by the national security burden created by America’s underperforming education system.””
Jeez Arnie - where have you been for the past 40 years? It’s your people who have made sure students don’t learn anything. They aren’t there to learn. They are there to be indoctrinated. Don’t pretend to be surprised or disappointed. You got what you wanted - a dumbed down society courtesy of the dems in this country! National Security? What’s that to dems?
Don’t worry, the recruiting office is overflowing in Haight-Ashbury.
Does anyone here really think these people are concerned about our military or the childrunz?
This is about trying to funnel more taxpayer money into the public Skrool System!
The probelm with our society is that we have completely broken down all standards based on the retarded idea that somehow upholding standards is discriminatory. Political correctness follows suit.
We have failed as a society to uphold and enforce basic social standards and we are reaping the failure of our collective cowardice.
Yeah, I took the test. Yeah, it’s pretty stinking easy. And I’m not that smart. C- student all through high school.
“Nearly one-fourth of the students who try to join the military fail its entrance exam, painting a grim picture of an education system that produces graduates who can’t answer basic math, science and reading questions.”
But the really important question is: how’s their self-esteem?
This is a frightening development which effects national security. Of all the reasons to homeschool, is this the best reason yet?
Who needs a literate military? The Democrats and a handful of GOP scum last week, with the repeal of DADT, mandated that the military MUST ACCEPT people with mental and emotional disorders. So being able to read and write and perform basic arithmetic matters?
Pray for America.
Some good commentary on this story from Jerry Pournelle. I recommend him highly. Like this site, there is a learning curve to his site, but it’s worth it. It is more of a news commentary blog, not a forum, though he does post lots of mail from his readers.
The following from here: http://www.jerrypournelle.com/view/2010/Q4/view654.html#Wednesday
This article with its cry of despair lead was in today’s Daily News along with some sample questions. It is certainly a condemnation of the school system, since all those who take the test have a high school education or GED equivalent. According to this article, only about 25% of those age 17 to 24 are even eligible to take the test. I haven’t been following the changes to the AFQT (Armed Forces Qualification Test) but it used to be a rather good IQ test.
One presumes that none of the military services want recruits with IQ 85 or below. That’s one standard deviation below the normal of 100. IQ 85 is considered below normal, but do understand that IQ tests — and the AFQT test is pretty well an IQ test however they try to manipulate it — measure abilities to do abstract reasoning. IQ 85 people can do many highly complex tasks that require skill training rather than educated reasoning, and they don’t get so bored by doing them as nerds do. You don’t need to be really smart to operate the same equipment every day; you do need some smarts if they change machinery on you. Same is true with weapons and much else.
At one time there were plenty of Army jobs for low IQ soldiers. Gun captains in the artillery needed smarts; loaders not so much, and those who got the ammunition to the guns didn’t need smarts, they needed endurance, and the ability to function in situations of absolute madness. Singleminded devotion to getting that projectile from the revetment to the breech while crap is falling all around you is not particularly well correlated with IQ.
There are fewer such tasks in modern armies.
The basic minimum IQ admitted to the Legions is something worth debating and discussing. One would not expect IQ 85 - 90 soldiers to be promoted to leadership no matter how long they serve, and we do not have any provisions for “career privates”, just as this Army doesn’t have career captains. This may be the right policy.
The requirement for a high school diploma pretty well eliminates IQ 90 and below. That leaves about 80% of the population. Many of those are eliminated by criminal records or physical disabilities.
Is a 25% failure rate among those taking the test so very low given out modern military? And is this cause to worry? It is cause to wonder about the effectiveness of the school system, but we have long known that. The public school system is not organized to teach skills and discipline to the left hand side of the bell curve, and by trying to educate everyone in the system it compromises on education for those who need education while doing little for those who need skill training. We don’t give the potential officers and non-coms the education they need because so many resources are used trying to give everyone a “world class university prep education” when everyone can’t use that. As we have observed, no child left behind has some really grim unintended consequences.
That 25% of those taking the AFQT don’t pass is a matter of concern, but we should be even more concerned about what we are trying to get that 25% to learn — and whether we have taught enough and the right things to those who did pass. It ought also to raise some concerns about what we are teaching in high schools.
The schools are awful. The remedy is well known: fire the worst 10% of the teachers, and we can increase school effectiveness by about 50%. That doesn’t translate directly, but it roughly would mean that instead of 25% failure of the AFQT the result would be closer to a 15% failure rate right there — and it would save money by not paying the worst teachers.
Incidentally, I don’t know the numbers but I would bet that graduates of armed services high schools don’t have anything like a 25% failure rate, nor do they have anything like the national average dropout rate. Just guessing.
There is more on this in mail.