Posted on 03/23/2011 8:24:25 PM PDT by 2nd amendment mama
High school senior Jared Dennis wants to join the U.S. Air Force. If you look at his credentials, he would appear to be someone any branch of the military would be happy to have. He has a 3.9 grade point average while taking courses like statistics and Japanese and he plays in a regional orchestra.
But when he went through the recruitment process with the Air Force, he was told he is a Tier 2 candidate because he attends an online virtual high school.
Less than 1 percent of the people the Air Force accepts can be Tier 2 candidates, which includes home-schooled students and those who earn a GED.
“It was heart-breaking, to say the least, that I put in all this time and effort looking at how I could get into the Air Force, not only for myself but to serve my nation. That’s one thing that I really want to do,” Dennis said.
He and his mother, Alice, met Wednesday with Congressman Joe Wilson, R-SC, and state superintendent Dr. Mick Zais, who’s a retired Army brigadier general.
Wilson serves as chairman of the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee, served 31 years in the National Guard and has four sons in the military. He told Dennis he’ll work to get the Department of Defense to change its policy.
“When I return next week to Washington, I’ll be working to put this in the National Defense Authorization Act,” Wilson said.
Tier 1 students are those who graduate from a traditional high school, while Tier 2 students are those with alternative credentials, like a home school diploma, a GED or a diploma from a correspondence, Internet or distance-learning program.
Tier 3 is for someone without any secondary school credential.
Non-Tier 1 applicants who are accepted are limited to no more than 10 percent in the Army, 5 percent in the Navy and Marine Corps and less than 1 percent in the Air Force.
Zais said, “The difficulty and rigor of the curriculum in our cyber schools exceeds that in many of our traditional schools. Seems to me this is probably just a policy in Washington that made sense 15 years ago when there was a lot of fly-by-night companies offering fake degrees.”
He points out that the state’s virtual charter schools have the same accreditation as brick-and-mortar schools and students take the same standardized tests.
Dennis is still hoping he’ll be able to join the Air Force. If he’s not allowed to enlist, he said he plans to go to college and join ROTC.
According to my son who just spent four years in the military that is exactly what is going on.
Here’s another irony...the majority of active-duty airmen, taking college classes in their spare time, attend on-line colleges and universities—and the service pays for it, through tuition assistance. If on-line is satisfactory for an airman’s college education, why isn’t it good enough for a prospective airman’s high school diploma.
One more thing: I’d like to know if this young man has taken the ASVAB and his scores on the various sections of the test. If he blew it away, the service has even less of a leg to stand on.
Oh please. The military is still a worthwhile calling. The fags that are looking to stir up trouble will not last long, officially or otherwise.
Guess he’ll just have to say he’s gay, then he’s a shoe in.../sarc
We are looking at sending our 4th grade daughter to an online middle school in just over a year. The online school has a far more rigorous program. They study about twice as many books in the literature class, they have about 4 times as many labs in the science classes, they do much more intense grammar, and foreign languages are offered. Our son, a junior, will be taking physics from an online school next year because our high school does not even offer AP physics. There are far more AP classes offered online than in the brick building 2 blocks away.
Well, this is good news to me. I guess I won’t have to worry about my daughter that started college at 13 being drafted after the repeal of the DADT dust settles.
“Does anybody remember the USAF Project 10,000? 1966-7?
How did that work out? I really never heard.”
Wasn’t that 100,000? I had to take a test for it while in Basic in ‘68. But, no, I never heard any more about it. As I remember, it was supposed to force the AF to admit more of the somewhat “less desirable” recruits.
We had friends who home schooled their kids. The son wanted to join the Marines. He wasn’t accepted because he was home schooled. Mom went down to the recruitment center and in no uncertain terms, presented an argument of exactly why he was qualified and why he should become a Marine. After several hours, the recruiters agreed to take the son. They also wanted Mom to join up, too. She proved herself to be Marine material. I think they were about scared of her, too.
“Mom went down to the recruitment center and in no uncertain terms, presented an argument of exactly why he was qualified and why he should become a Marine. After several hours, the recruiters agreed to take the son. They also wanted Mom to join up, too.”
A momma grizzly. Not a good idea to mess with us. Mayflower is in my DNA.
Ouch, I was pushed into going despite wanting ot be homeschooled; I was bullied and almost barely graduated and I rue the day that I had to go. But please spare me the label, not everyone wanted to go to public school, some were forced.
Exactly, kids don’t normally choose their educational venues.
Mr. Dennis, unfortunately in 2011 (and since AA), has the wrong paint job, you are correct.
What were his standardized scores?
I wonder what the kid’s AFQT score was?
I was thinking the same thing.
Sorry that you had to be forced to put up with that crap. A lot of generalizations on this thread only because FREEPERS are upset over this situation and emotions get in front of reality. Of course folks here know that some kids did not have a choice but go to public school. Heck most of them on this thread went to public school which is why they are trying to change the system for homeschoolers. It is great to see you on this site.
LOL, the air force gives you a separate test, your score determines your acceptance and job placement. He flunked the test.
What “Tier” are you in if you were homeschooled and then got a baccalaureate degree at the age of 16?
“Unfortunately, I’ve observed master’s-prepared graduates of online universities who cannot function in the workplace.”
And I’ve observed Harvard and yale graduates who cannot function in the workplace.
An education is what you make of it, personally.
“the air force gives you a separate test, your score determines your acceptance and job placement. He flunked the test.”
All the services use the same test. Your score is part of what determines your acceptance and heavily influences your job placement. There are other factors they consider for recruitment, such as criminal history, health, and education.
Even better, with a 3.9 grade average and a congressman on your side, why not an application for a nomination to the AF Academy?
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