Posted on 11/05/2006 4:44:47 AM PST by Pharmboy
SENATOR JOHN KERRY says he flubbed a joke aimed at President Bush when he warned a group of students last week that they would get “get stuck in Iraq” if they didn’t work hard in school. The president says Mr. Kerry demeaned the military by suggesting its men and women were “uneducated.”
snip...
Is the military a career of last resort for the uneducated?
Though the military has a smaller proportion of college graduates than the country at large, it turns out that it has a higher proportion of people with high school diplomas, according to a comparison of figures from the Pentagon and the Census Bureau.
About 97 percent of the 1.4 million Americans serving in the active duty Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines have graduated from high school or the equivalent, according to Pentagon figures. That compares with 85 percent of all adults 25 years or older who reported they had completed at least high school, according to the Census Bureau.
Roughly 17 percent of the active duty members of the military have a bachelor’s or graduate degree, the Pentagon figures show, while in the nation as a whole, 28 percent of adults reported they had at least a bachelor’s degree.
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College graduates have historically been underrepresented because the military focuses most of its recruitment efforts on high school students, and many of them join so they can eventually earn a college degree with the help of the G.I. Bill of Rights.
snip...
“The quality clearly improved after we ended the draft and went to an all-volunteer force,” said David Segal, a military sociologist at the University of Maryland. “My sense is that it is going down now slightly at the margins, with fewer high school graduates signing up, but that’s only at the margins.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
isn't it amazing that the truth can overcome all the lib/dem spin/propaganda????
Carolyn
I said "occasionally." Twice. Hey, even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while...
Amazing, totally amazing, especially coming from the Times!
Thanks for posting!
Can anyone give us the percentages adjusted for age?
I wouldn't expect that the college-graduate percentage would increase all that much. The time and deployment demands in the military would prevent getting a degree in the normal civilian time-frame. I'd be willing to bet that the 'some college' percentage is quite high, though.
It would also be interesting to see the college graduation success rates of those who jumped in immediately to college life and those who deferred due to enlistment.
The TIMES is reporting this story is this way only because the elite, liberal, east coast media has turned on Kerry. They have had enough. See this weeks's NEWSWEAK.
"I wouldn't expect that the college-graduate percentage would increase all that much. The time and deployment demands in the military would prevent getting a degree in the normal civilian time-frame."
You would be surprised how many do have college degrees. I picked 30-40 to emphasize career military. All officers have college degrees. Many senior NCOs do, too, now -- you don't get promoted as easily if you do not, and up-or-out applies to NCOs as well as officers.
In the 1990s I worked with soldiers from Fort Hood on computer stuff (I was the civilian consultant that -- as they put it -- flew in, made a lot of noise, ate their food, crapped all over, and few out again). I was amazed at how educated our military was -- even the enlisted and NCOs. It wasn't the 1970s Army I had known in ROTC.
Kerry meant what he said and said what he meant.
I think what you might refer to is the process of being in the military, going through basic training, etc.
If I had to choose people to belong to a team and get something done, I would choose a 20 year old soldier over any 20 year old college student every time.
That soldier has learned how to be on time.
That soldier has learned how a chain of command works.
That soldier has learned how to work as part of a team and has practical experience.
That soldier has learned how to live and work with people.
That soldier has learned manners. (This is often overlooked, but it is related to learning how to work in a chain of command. For example, I cannot recall seeing a military person being overtly rude to a civilian...without fail, they are courteous to a fault.)
That soldier has learned the value of neatness and order.
That soldier has learned how to make decisions.
Most importantly, that soldier has learned responsibility. Here is an example from my own experience: When I was in the USN, I ended up on my last cruise as a flight deck troubleshooter in an attack squadron (VA-46). We were launching a fairly large strike during an exercise, and one of our planes had some oil dripping from one of its wraparound panels on its belly. I ran over, pulled the panel off, and saw a fitting that was dripping oil. I figured "Ok, this is fixable. I'll just cut the safety wire, tighten the fitting and re-safety wire it." So I begin...after a few minutes, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and saw the shoes of one of the CPO Yellow Shirts behind me. He yelled in my ear "How long are you going to take? The Captain wants to know when he can change course..." I yelled back it would take two minutes, and went right back to safety wiring, was done and had the panel back on in under two minutes (no small feat...there were at least 40 fasteners on that panel that needed to be screwed back in with my speed handle...teamwork helped there!) and I didn't give it a second thought. The plane launched, the carrier and its accompanying ships turned, and on we went.
It was only later that I thought to myself...there I was, a 20 year old Aviation Machinist's Mate doing my job, and probably 10,000 men and Billions of dollars of ships were all heading in one direction waiting for me to finish my work. And they trusted me to do it.
You CANNOT teach that in college.
"I was amazed at how educated our military was -- even the enlisted and NCOs."
What a ringing endorsement.....
Excellent point...thanks.
But how does that break down by age? How many people under the age of 21 or 22 have a bachelors degree anyway?
Statistics like this are even more impressive when you consider that the military makes essentially zero effort to recruit among better students. There are plenty of kids with good grades for whom going to straight off to college has little appeal, but who go anyway, and flame out in an ugly and expensive way, or even manage to graduate with a BA but completely unready for the world of professionl work. Recruiters might do better than they think with honors students.
Yes...excellent point. Up earlier in the thread another Freeper had similar thoughts. The NY Times should have made a similar demographic point. I was too quick to compliment them--CD was right.
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The Words
http://www.Freerepublic.com/~ALOHARONNIE
The Pictures
http://www.RickRescorla.com/The%20Statue.htm
The Heroism
http://www.ArmchairGeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24361
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