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.
Ping!
I wonder what the kid’s AFQT score was? If he scored really high on the aptitude test, the USAF would not weigh the Tier classification as much. Does the USAF no longer take recruits like this anymore?
Whoa! Calm down there, mama. Nothing so sinister. People tend to forget that the military is a GIANT bureaucracy. Like any bureaucracy, it is VERY slow in adapting to its current environment. As would-be servicemembers like this Dennis kid increase, they'll be forced to look at their admission criteria and make the necessary changes in policy--but it won't happen overnight.
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.
That would be better for him anyway.
Unfortunately, I’ve observed master’s-prepared graduates of online universities who cannot function in the workplace. University of Phoenix grads were the majority. I have no idea how to select a school or to deal w/this situation, so I can’t be helpful.
What did he score on the aptitude test?
If he had a high score and has a congressman involved it’s probably a fairly easy fix to get a policy change in regards to homeschoolers.
Maybe a high aptitude test score along with a high SAT or ACT score in lieu of a traditional HS diploma?
You haven't noticed any of those form stone and mortar Universities?
form should be from
Homeschoolers would probably make the most brave and loyal military the country has ever had since George Washington. I don’t know what the policy has historically been, but it’s easy to see why Obama would love the pubskewl crowd.
How unjust!
This makes no sense because each branch of the military utilizes their mental and physical aptitude/fitness exams before they accept anyone. They reject many applicants from so-called Tier 1 schools who do not pass their aptitude tests.
How did this kid do on his military tests that all applicants take?
The military has accepted the repeal of DADT rather quickly. Honestly good conservative Christian men should avoid military service until we see how this new social agenda plays out. I would suggest college and ROTC over enlistment at this time. He may find he changes his mind about serving as time goes by. This is what I suggested as a course of action for my nephew. Right now the militarize priorities are skewed. It is a shame he is being treated this way.
Maybe that’s why they insist on the smarts up front because they don’t beat them into the raw recruits.
No Union Teachers at Home School, online Schools or GED’s. I wonder if that is a factor. How long has this Policy been in effect?
I’d bet this reflects the largely pubskewled makeup of the current forces. They grew up with gay, gay, gay all the day and so it’s not such a discord. That acceptance can’t last forever, as lustful gays are going to create a world of sexual harassment and sexual assault hurt for their fellow troops who would rather not participate in butt piracy, thank you very much!
That's the better choice anyway. Get a commission and possibly your wings.
The video says that he did well and he has a 3.9 gpa in school and is taking accelerated classes, including Japanese.
The video of the story says he did well on Air Force qualifications tests. This is a dumbass policy.
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