| Army Opens Prep School
Posted: 8/27/2008 6:59:04 PM | This is a small portion of an article I read today. What I find most surprising here is only 30% of the public are even eligible to enlist. While I am all for having higher standards for the military, this speaks volumes about the screwed up state of the general population.
Do you think this is a good idea to try and get drop-outs a GED so they can enlist? I'm for it if they score well on as ASVAB (?). If they do poorly on that I wouldn't even waste time trying to raise their scores and getting them a GED.
FORT JACKSON, S.C. - Austin Swarner left high school to care for his mother while she fought a losing battle with cancer. Tony Brown wanted to begin supporting himself and left two classes shy of a diploma. Haelee Holden got tired of trying to make it through school while flipping burgers until 1 a.m.
But the U.S. Army, eager to fill its ranks amid wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, doesn't see them as dropouts. They are recruits who only need a GED before they're ready to begin basic training.
And so, the Army formally opens its first prep school Wednesday.
``It's academic immersion,'' explained Col. Jeffrey Sanderson, chief of staff at Fort Jackson, home of the Army's largest basic training school. ``Our studies show that with only three out of every 10 people of military age being capable of joining the Army, we are going to have to do something different.''
That includes turning six World War II-era buildings at the base into a mini-campus of spartan classrooms and barracks. Under the yearlong pilot project, classes of about 60 soldiers will enter the monthlong program every week.
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| Army Opens Prep School
Posted: 8/28/2008 8:17:37 PM | | The army has always been a way for people to advance themselves by learning valuable skills and gaining unique experiences while serving their country. I think it's great that the army is going one better and helping the unschooled to achieve a basic level of education. The question for me is, why is the school system churning out such a large number of dropouts? | |
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| Army Opens Prep School
Posted: 8/30/2008 3:16:26 AM | I wish I could go, but I've already graduated. I'd love to experience the military structure for a period of time before going to BCT.
Oh well... lol. Glad they've got that school open though, it'll help a lot of people and I imagine it'll have a great success rate.
--Brandon | |
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| Army Opens Prep School
Posted: 8/30/2008 5:13:36 AM | Our studies show that with only three out of every 10 people of military age being capable of joining the Army, we are going to have to do something different.
How is lowering their standards to get more recruits any different?
And if only 3/10 of people are capable of joining the Army, where does the Air Force and the Navy, with their higher standards than the Army, get their recruits? Hmmm... one goes to the Air Force, one to the Navy, one to the Coast Guard... and the Army and Marines are left out?
BTW, when I was in the Air Force many years ago, our planes used Ft. Jackson for target runs. LOL I remember standing on the flightline near Sumter, S.C. in the hot summer evenings watching the northwest sky as the photoflash was deployed over the Army base near Columbia, S.C. | |
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| Army Opens Prep School
Posted: 8/30/2008 8:44:55 PM | They're not lowering their standards by putting the students in this school. They are educating them so they will become qualified. What they currently lack is the education, and they are usually stuck in a work-situation where they cannot go to school. So now they can enlist, go to school, and earn a paycheck while there and send money home if they have to. If they fail to succeed at this school, they are released from their enlistment contract with the Army.
Definitely not lowering their standards.
--Brandon | |
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| Army Opens Prep School
Posted: 8/31/2008 12:37:03 AM | | I suppose then that the idea is to give those who wish it the opportunity to enlist despite not qualifying due to lack of basic education ? In that case, there's no isse here and this really doesn't seem like a bad idea at all. As long as this is meant for people who wanted to enlist in the first place then it's good. If they didn't want to enlist exactly but wanted the education anyway, well, it's just like every other educational perk the military offers...there are no free rides. | |
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| Army Opens Prep School
Posted: 9/1/2008 6:20:43 AM | Some people may have not finished school for a number of reasons. If a person wants to change their for the better why would you want to try to stop that. This program is a way to help people better their life and make it more productive. It is a solution to a problem.
If they do poorly on that I wouldn't even waste time trying to raise their scores and getting them a GED.
So what does the above statement you wrote accomplish? Absolutely nothing!!!!!
I honestly did not like my drill sergeants when I was in basic and AIT. I did respect them though, and they were very good at their job in teaching me what I had to learn.
Again, I find this to be a solution to a problem. There are to many people ****ing about what is wrong in the world but offer no solutions. I think this is a good program and am all for it. | |
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| Army Opens Prep School
Posted: 9/1/2008 11:30:19 AM | COL David Hackworth, our most decorated soldier of Vietnam, LTC Anthony Herbert, the most decorated soldier of Korea, Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier of WWII, Capt. Richard Marcinko, "Rogue Warrior", quintessential Navy SEAL, counterterror expert.
What do all of these men have in common, other than I wouldn't want to meet any of them in a dark alley with hostile intent (and two of them have gone on to Valhalla anyway but they're still kinda scary...)?
None of them could have enlisted in an Armed Services that required a high school diploma. While all of them achieved commissioned status accompanied by at least GED's and for many advanced degrees, none of them graduated from high school. Our armed forces require as many people like these as they can get...anything that helps them achieve it is a good thing. | |
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| Army Opens Prep School
Posted: 9/1/2008 11:37:00 AM | Yes, I think it is a good idea. The Army needs Soldiers, and lord knows, the Army has plenty of cash. So its an easy trade-off. A
I highly doubt its 3/10 persons of military age being capable of joining the Army - more likely is 3/10 persons -attempting - to join the Army are eligible. Keep in mind that the Army traditionally takes the best from the lowest sectors of soceity. We here in America basically have a third-world education system. The lower you class , the worse your education. And since most Army recruites are from the lower class, they have suffered risible educations.
Thats not a slander towards the enlisted in any way, the fact that many Soldiers are from the lowest classes of soceity and are in the Army to improve their lives (successfully for most) is something I am proud of. | |
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