Posted on 05/03/2022 6:03:12 AM PDT by Kaslin
“Sady” never even got to hear about college. When she showed up at her high school college counselor’s office, she was shooed right back out the door — she’d let slip that she was joining the U.S. Army after graduation. Sady had been dismissed so fast she never even had the chance to say why she had shown up in the first place: college was her destination. The military was simply the vehicle she’d chosen to get herself there.
Now, on the heels of military service and anticipating her freshman year of college, Sady was bewildered by the college matriculation process and was already facing down fears of failure before attending her first class. She felt more disoriented in this environment than being on night patrol with malfunctioned night vision goggles. She desperately wished someone, anyone, with experience would reach out to help dispel these mystifications of higher ed. Given the right compass, Sady knew she’d become a successful graduate. She was driven; she was resilient; she’d handled complex equipment involving millions of dollars before she’d legally been allowed to drink. But Sady continued to be on the receiving end of reflexive stereotyping about who serves in the U.S. military and why, from the very professionals she needed guidance from. She was adrift in a sea of directionless information.
“Sady” doesn’t actually exist in real life — but hundreds of thousands of Sadys do. She represents the composite lived experience of the majority of the post-9/11 student veteran population, and is living proof that Congress merely perpetuating historically transformative legislation (turning the GI Bill into the Forever GI Bill, for instance) is no guarantee that veterans’ lives will be positively transformed by it. Such was the reality well before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. And while COVID complicated the higher education landscape for GI Bill users and other student veterans, what the pandemic more revealed were the systemic problems that have simply always existed for these students, barring their success.
“Sady” never even got to hear about college. When she showed up at her high school college counselor’s office, she was shooed right back out the door — she’d let slip that she was joining the U.S. Army after graduation. Sady had been dismissed so fast she never even had the chance to say why she had shown up in the first place: college was her destination. The military was simply the vehicle she’d chosen to get herself there.
Now, on the heels of military service and anticipating her freshman year of college, Sady was bewildered by the college matriculation process and was already facing down fears of failure before attending her first class. She felt more disoriented in this environment than being on night patrol with malfunctioned night vision goggles. She desperately wished someone, anyone, with experience would reach out to help dispel these mystifications of higher ed. Given the right compass, Sady knew she’d become a successful graduate. She was driven; she was resilient; she’d handled complex equipment involving millions of dollars before she’d legally been allowed to drink. But Sady continued to be on the receiving end of reflexive stereotyping about who serves in the U.S. military and why, from the very professionals she needed guidance from. She was adrift in a sea of directionless information.
“Sady” doesn’t actually exist in real life — but hundreds of thousands of Sadys do. She represents the composite lived experience of the majority of the post-9/11 student veteran population, and is living proof that Congress merely perpetuating historically transformative legislation (turning the GI Bill into the Forever GI Bill, for instance) is no guarantee that veterans’ lives will be positively transformed by it. Such was the reality well before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. And while COVID complicated the higher education landscape for GI Bill users and other student veterans, what the pandemic more revealed were the systemic problems that have simply always existed for these students, barring their success.
Once again, being first-generation college students, they couldn’t rely on relevant advice from their family, and that long-ago high school counselor never imparted even the basics of what to look for or avoid in thinking about college. Any rocky start to the student veteran’s higher education journey is fed by these elements — and not military service per se. And yet it’s the military service that the higher education community fixates on as being “problematic.”
We’ve had twenty years now of post-9/11 veterans. If we are serious about celebrating the “Month of the Military Child,” then it’s high time to reverse the stereotypes about veterans, and for colleges and universities to acknowledge and embrace student veterans as representative of those very underrepresented populations they profess to want to serve. And not only that — they need also to embrace the fact that, given access to veteran- and nontraditional student-supporting programs, student veterans make for some of the highest performing students on campuses of higher education today.
Fairly pointless article - anybody going to college is going to have the same issues, and likely with a lot less help from Uncle Sugar as the hypothetical subjects.
If you can’t figure out how college works, maybe you shouldn’t be in college.
I used the post 9/11GI Bill. It was quite easy to use.
I would like to say I don’t get how this hypothetical person “Sady” would be so, er...helpless and soft, but I recognize that things are a little different now.
DISCLAIMER: I got out of the military and went to college in 1979, and there was considerable anti-military sentiment at that time, which didn’t change until Reagan was elected...a holdover from Vietnam, I am sure. I had this mindset described below myself. It may not apply to everyone, but depending on “educators” to get past their mindset is a losing proposition. Not all, but many. I am sure there are veterans out there who understand this mindset.
Any veteran worth their salt understands (or should understand) two things:
First, I served. I did a lot of things that kids coming out of high school have never done, and I am ready to learn, I know what I want, and where I want to go. In the military, I learned to be self reliant, and I don’t have to depend on others to learn anymore. If someone doesn’t want to help me because they hate the military, tough noogies. They don’t want to help? I’ll make it without their crap.
Second, I am older than most of the kids coming in. I don’t need my hand held.
I was a bit irritated by the tone of this. So this fictional woman could go on night patrol with malfunctioning night vision goggles and conduct operations, but can’t navigate a college admission process without being assertive?
I just didn’t like the concept behind the “problem”.
I agree. It sounds like they’re saying Veterans are too stupid to apply to college.
Get out of the military. Go to a local community college and get your AA. Transfer to a university and get your B.S. or B.A. degree. (if that’s your desire)
“DISCLAIMER: I got out of the military and went to college in 1979, and there was considerable anti-military sentiment at that time, “
I got out in ‘74 and went to UF in ‘75. Really didn’t notice any anti-military sentiment.
I would guess there is a difference in what part of the country you live in.
I don’t know, maybe she’s describing a situation at “elite” universities which would have a very negative view of anyone currently or previously in the military.
But I certainly didn’t see that at a regional university and many of my colleagues in engineering after I started work were prior military and state university graduates.
I work in the military veterans office of one of the largest universities in America. This article is wrong, there are many opportunities available and many people doing all they can to get vets into college and stay there. This sort of rubbish is not helpful.
Austin Peay is the university here in Clarksville, TN where I live. They have a branch at Fort Campbell, KY where the soldiers can go, without having to go off post.
I was stationed there for three years and lived in the New Providence area of Clarksville. Loved that area!
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