Army’s education waiver reversal stuns applicants, splits experts on impact

[rebewranger]

 
Army’s education waiver reversal stuns applicants, splits experts on impact
By Davis Winkie
 Jul 5, 05:48 PM

 
Aiden, a housing- and food-insecure teenager living in Miami, remembers the excitement he felt when the Army recruiter gave him the news late last month: the service was beginning to enlist applicants without high school diplomas or equivalencies like the GED amid a horrible recruiting year.

“I felt like I had 1,000 pounds lifted off my chest,” he recounted in a phone interview with Army Times, asking that his full name not appear in the story. “It was a prayer that got answered for me.”

The military at large has struggled to enlist new troops in 2022, with the Army at only about 40% of its recruiting goals with mere months left in the fiscal year. But that shortfall for military recruiters presented a life-changing opportunity for Aiden.
 
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-army/2022/07/05/armys-education-waiver-reversal-stuns-applicants-splits-experts-on-impact/

[rebewranger]

This story makes the military look more like a rescue mission for wayward young people than a war machine.  

[Kamaji]

This story makes the military look more like a rescue mission for wayward young people than a war machine.  

At times it has functioned as exactly that.  And, in principle, there is nothing wrong with that so long as the military's training regimen is not watered down.

[240B]

The Army is living in the past, pre-1960. In my father's generation, a high-school diploma actually meant something. It was a certification of sorts and was a 'real' achievement. Graduating high-school meant you can read and write on an adult level and can do fundamental math.

Today, a high-school diploma is nothing at all. A large percentage of 'American' high-school graduates cannot read or write, they cannot do math, and they have no concept whatsoever of civics or history. In many parts of America, a high-school diploma is a 'political issue' based on the status of the school and the race of the student. He didn't show up to class ... and he did no school work ... he cannot read or write ... but he "deserves" to graduate because he has a hard life.

This decision is a mistake. All recruitment and placement should be based on the ASVAB. That is a real factual measure. Having a high-school diploma does not represent a person's ability in any way whatsoever. Today, having a high-school diploma is completely meaningless in terms of measuring the ability of a person to function in a workplace. It has no meaning at all.