Four years in the military after high school will not only help pay for college, it will grow a kid up enough to be serious about it when he/she gets there.
Right on!
Amen. If I had it to do all over again, this would be the way.
Although I thought I knew what I was doing, 18 years old was just too young to decide on a major and career direction.
T,
That's no sh*t, neither. Did the trick for me.
On top of that it will harden the young man or woman, thereby ending what I call "the scared undergrad" syndrome. As a teaching assistant I saw this all of the time. Professors would bully their undergrads into accepting their orthodoxy, I experienced it myself as an undergrad. The nontraditional students (i.e. students 23+, most of whom were ex-military or workforce retraining types) tended to make these bullies back down, while the fresh outta high school types just took it. More students standing up to bully professors (especially in English and in History) would curb if not eliminate the liberal scare tactics on campus.
Cheers,
CSG
People in our suburban hometown in a blue state were scandalized when they found out my brother was going into the military. After all, middle-class kids with good SAT scores are supposed to be "above" enlisting!
8 months later, he plans on being a lifer, and has started college courses in his (little) spare time. He is eminently more mature, confident, and focused than his friends who went off to college. He loves the Coast Guard and he genuinely enjoys what he does - even scraping paint. ;-)
My two good friends from college were both Navy vets and were very serious about school. They had each spent 6+ years in the service to be able to pay for college and weren't going to waste the opportunity.
i agree, it took me 8 years in the navy to figure out what i wanted to be. i am at the u of Minnesota now, it is amazing that out of th 40k students, probally 3, including me, know what they want to do. also, i would never send my children to this university straight out of high school. i believe either a 2 year community college or a trade school would be just fine. if after 2 years of cc and my child wants to go on for a bs or higher, good on him/her.