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The Truth About the Academies
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/26470 ^ | September 7, 2007

Posted on 09/18/2007 9:12:45 AM PDT by zendari

I know why I chose Columbia: the campus is magnificent, the education is top-tier, and my peers are intelligent. I could look at a stranger, tell him or her that I went to Columbia, and hear the predictable, “Wow, you must be smart.”

When my brother was getting ready to go to the Naval Academy, everyone ooohed and awed about how brave he was. Aunts and uncles would say, “John, you must be one of thousands of kids who wanted to go—you must be so smart!” When he appeared unsure about whether he wanted to choose Navy or University of California, Berkeley, one uncle who works on Wall Street said, “John, businessmen love hiring people from the academies. You will be set for life.” With that kind of promised prestige, my brother found it tough to give up a spot at Navy. So in June, my family dropped him off in Annapolis.

My brother ended up liking Annapolis and he has decided to stay. While it has been difficult for me to accept that I have a brother in the military, I must allow him to pursue whatever path he is drawn toward, and he has admitted to me that he feels called to being there. However, for anyone else out there considering a career in the academy, let it be known: the U.S. Naval Academy is not an elite college; it is first and foremost a branch of the U.S. military and the prestige comes at a big price—it taxes parents, siblings, and participants if they do not understand what they were signing up for.

(Excerpt) Read more at columbiaspectator.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: colleges; education; humor; propaganda; reeducation
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To: zendari
I could look at a stranger, tell him or her that I went to Columbia, and hear the predictable, “Wow, you must be smart.”

Oh, don't worry hon, I read the rest of the article. I know you're not smart...

21 posted on 09/18/2007 10:13:20 AM PDT by Kenton (All vices in moderation. I don't want to overdo any but I don't want to skip any either.)
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To: Minn

Go to the site and read the gazillion respondes to this LibGal....


22 posted on 09/18/2007 10:19:31 AM PDT by iopscusa (El Vaquero. (SC Lowcountry Cowboy))
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To: zendari
"Wow, you must be smart."

She should recognize that her brother has intelligence and character. It takes more than "smart" to be accepted to an academy. While my SAT and ACT scores would have likely granted me admission to nearly any college, a few poor choices and "youthful indiscretions" scuttled any possibility of an academy appointment.
23 posted on 09/18/2007 10:20:34 AM PDT by philled ("CNBC?...You might as well be doing ham radio at that point."-- Dennis Miller)
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To: pieceofthepuzzle

You’re right. She’s probably dreading the prospect of running for office in some liberal enclave with the possibility that someone will find out she has a brother serving in the Navy or Marine Corps. She’d probably rather have him dishing out soup for OXFAM, or doing abortions.


24 posted on 09/18/2007 10:24:55 AM PDT by mathurine
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To: zendari
....it taxes parents, siblings, and participants if they do not understand what they were signing up for... Dear author; you mean if they are drooling morons? I've known what the US Navel Academy was about since, maybe, 5th grade. When do you Columbia types figure it out? And, you lying turd, I'll just bet you you asked your brother why he wanted to go he didn't "admit" he liked the "structure". I'll bet he said things you just don't understand. Things like duty, honor, service, committment. You don't deserve your brother; and he deserves a more loyal family.
25 posted on 09/18/2007 10:40:28 AM PDT by bobsatwork
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To: zendari

My posted response at the website:

“I had difficulty finishing this rant as I was laughing so hard the words began to blur with tears. I am 61 now and retired after 28 years in the Navy and Navy Reserve. During that time I was privileged to serve with the best people in the world, including my shipmates in Vietnam. Meanwhile, my alma mater, The University of Massachusetts at Amherst , has descended into a cesspit of third-rate minds majoring in Victims Studies and Racism Studies, “graduating” tens of thousands of surly, unbathed unemployables who settle like sediment into Liberal enclaves like Amherst and Cambridge and San Francisco, free to lead lives of self-indulgent, mindless Liberalism while kept safe and pampered by their betters in the armed services.

One can only hope that the ignorance of this article’s writer will somehow cure with age. “


26 posted on 09/18/2007 11:29:42 AM PDT by pabianice
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To: zendari
One of the hilarious Comments on this drivel:

ABNORMAL PSYCH 481

Final Exam Question:

During your initial interview, a new patient, without significant affect, states:

I know why I chose Columbia: the campus is magnificent, the education is top-tier, and my peers are intelligent. I could look at a stranger, tell him or her that I went to Columbia, and hear the predictable, “Wow, you must be smart.”

Identify the primary psychopathology demonstrated by this statement, probable courses of therapeutic approach and likelihood of recovery.

EXTRA CREDIT

How would the fact that the patient lied about being a Columbia student, but was actually a Barnard College senior majoring in political science affect your diagnosis or treatment?

Posted by: anonymous (not verified) | September 18th, 2007 @ 2:25pm

27 posted on 09/18/2007 11:41:48 AM PDT by Madame Dufarge
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To: zendari

Wow, you must be smart!!! < GUFFAW> < SNORT>


28 posted on 09/18/2007 11:45:39 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (NYT Headline: Protocols of the Learned Elders of CBS: Fake but Accurate, Experts Say)
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To: Kenton

You go to Columbia, Well Bless your heart.


29 posted on 09/18/2007 12:01:12 PM PDT by wordsofearnest (Thompson-Hunter not Hunter Thompson.)
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To: henkster
The first sentence reeks of nauseating elitism

You can be virtually assured that a fellow who feels the need to declare how smart he is usually has his suspicions, as will others.

30 posted on 09/18/2007 1:44:40 PM PDT by MosesKnows
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To: zendari

This piece of rubbish is contemptible on so many grounds. But I would like to call attention to a really odd aspect of the attitude of the little shrew who wrote it: She seems to think that her brother is her child! She speaks throughout like it is her direct responsibility to either allow or not allow him to make the choice to attend the Naval Academy. And at the end, we see that she herself is a college senior. What an arrogant twit. The young midshipman probably chose this route as the only way te get free of this suffocating family.


31 posted on 09/18/2007 4:38:12 PM PDT by SergeiRachmaninov
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To: wordsofearnest
You go to Columbia, Well Bless your heart.

Well, not me. That would be Princess Idris....

32 posted on 09/19/2007 7:02:17 AM PDT by Kenton (All vices in moderation. I don't want to overdo any but I don't want to skip any either.)
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To: Kenton

“Well Bless her heart” is a southern idiom for what an ignorant slut.


33 posted on 09/19/2007 9:16:11 AM PDT by wordsofearnest (Thompson-Hunter not Hunter Thompson.)
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To: wordsofearnest
“Well Bless her heart” is a southern idiom for what an ignorant slut.

Among a number of other similar sentiments... ;)

34 posted on 09/19/2007 9:18:31 AM PDT by Kenton (All vices in moderation. I don't want to overdo any but I don't want to skip any either.)
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To: zendari
I could look at a stranger, tell him or her that I went to Columbia, and hear the predictable, “Wow, you must be smart.”

That statement tells me more about the author than the fact that he went to Columbia: a shallow, self-centered, egotistical, know-it-all liberal.

My brother made the mistake of going to Cornell...he felt much the same way going in and came out with a chip on his shoulder that he hasn't lost to this day.

35 posted on 09/19/2007 9:27:34 AM PDT by O6ret
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To: zendari

Columbia is a pit of Socialist thought.


36 posted on 09/19/2007 9:54:46 AM PDT by agincourt1415 (Fred Thompson in 08, start printing the Bumper Stickers!)
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To: zendari

Wow, the comments must have been brutal because now the link is bad.


37 posted on 09/21/2007 6:14:58 AM PDT by agrace
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To: zendari

They changed the path a little - http://www.columbiaspectator.com/?q=node/26470

The scariest thing is that this chick is majoring in political science.


38 posted on 09/21/2007 6:19:54 AM PDT by agrace
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