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APNewsBreak: Nearly 1 in 4 fails military exam
Associated Press ^ | December 21, 2010 | CHRISTINE ARMARIO/DORIE TURNER

Posted on 12/21/2010 5:00:59 PM PST by Baladas

MIAMI — Nearly one-fourth of the students who try to join the military fail its entrance exam, painting a grim picture of an education system that produces graduates who can't answer basic math, science and reading questions.

The report by The Education Trust found that 23 percent of recent high school graduates don't get the minimum score needed on the enlistment test to join any branch of the military. The study, released exclusively to The Associated Press on Tuesday, comes on top of Pentagon data that shows 75 percent of those aged 17 to 24 don't qualify for the military because they are physically unfit, have a criminal record or didn't graduate high school.

"Too many of our high school students are not graduating ready to begin college or a career — and many are not eligible to serve in our armed forces," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the AP. "I am deeply troubled by the national security burden created by America's underperforming education system."

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: duplicate; literacy; military; publiceducation; standarizedtests
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This is very sad news and a quite troubling statistic on the state of American public school education. The answer MUST be to repeal DADT now.
1 posted on 12/21/2010 5:01:06 PM PST by Baladas
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To: Baladas

The very nerve of these people. To think the military has the right to selectively discriminate against idiots! Idiots have rights too, y’know.


2 posted on 12/21/2010 5:04:38 PM PST by Jim Robinson (Rebellion is brewing!! Nuke the corrupt commie bastards to HELL!!)
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To: Jim Robinson

May I suggest that you check out, among others, some of the entries by young people on Facebook. These kids sound illiterate!!


3 posted on 12/21/2010 5:09:06 PM PST by JayVee (Joseph)
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To: Baladas

Already saw this via a private mail list. Here’s what I said:

Our entire schooling system is a disgrace.

People interested in this should read something, anything,
by John Taylor Gatto. I particularly recommend his =Underground
History of American Education=. It is available for free on
the Internet (http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/) but
I suggest buying a copy. It’s too big and too much to read on
a computer.

The relevant chapter to this topic is Chapter #3 which is available
at http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/3print.html . If reading
this doesn’t cause you to buy the whole book, then there is probably
no hope for you as regards this subject.

ML/NJ


4 posted on 12/21/2010 5:10:09 PM PST by ml/nj
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To: Baladas

75 percent of those aged 17 to 24 don’t qualify for the military because they are physically unfit, have a criminal record or didn’t graduate high school....

But being a fudge packer or carpet licker is ok.


5 posted on 12/21/2010 5:10:19 PM PST by maddog55 (OBAMA, You can't fix stupid...)
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To: Baladas
The study also found disparities across states, with Wyoming having the lowest ineligibility rate, at 13 percent, and Hawaii having the highest, at 38.3 percent.

Look for Obama to funnel money to his buddies in Hawaii.

6 posted on 12/21/2010 5:11:16 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: Baladas

On the other hand, if you score high in all categories the recruiting office will be peaking in your window at night with faux checks for thousands of dollars.

Doing well on the ASVAB has its negatives too....


7 posted on 12/21/2010 5:12:52 PM PST by struggle ((The struggle continues))
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To: Baladas

Unless the ASVAB has changed, a 6th grader with reasonable thinking skills should be able to pass it.

I remember some VERY poor students who generally couldn’t pass their way out of an open-book, answers given to them, test that passed the ASVAB - one that became a “very high recruiting target” after scoring very high on it (this kid was one of the worst students - academically speaking - that I ever encountered - and definitely someone I wouldn’t have trusted with a pocket knife, much less firearms and other weapons systems the US Military use).

I am curious about something - Who all are they including in these statistics? I know that some public schools actually REQUIRE students to take the ASVAB (the school I use to be employed by required it of Juniors). I knew many students who intentionally marked stupid answers just so that they wouldn’t hear from recruiters...

Not every person who takes the ASVAB is trying to get into the military.


8 posted on 12/21/2010 5:14:42 PM PST by TheBattman (They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature...)
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To: maddog55
But being a fudge packer or carpet licker is ok.

I believe that the correct term is "filthy sodomite", but your terms work, too.

9 posted on 12/21/2010 5:15:24 PM PST by SIDENET ("If that's your best, your best won't do." -Dee Snider)
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To: JayVee

Well, apparently one fourth of them are illiterate and another fourth are homosexual and another fourth are good little socialists in training. Our government run public indoctrination centers at work.


10 posted on 12/21/2010 5:16:25 PM PST by Jim Robinson (Rebellion is brewing!! Nuke the corrupt commie bastards to HELL!!)
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To: Baladas

They can still get a law degee from Harvard and edit the Law Review.


11 posted on 12/21/2010 5:16:31 PM PST by Da Coyote
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To: Baladas

One of the most demoralizing tours I ever had was when I was detailed to a MEPS station. The stupidity that our public education system generates is simply breathtaking. You would be amazed how many CatVs there are, especially considering by the time they’ve reached MEPS, they’ve been at least pre-screened to be high school graduates or have a GED. It’s amazing how many have diplomas but are - for all practical purposes - functionally illiterate.


12 posted on 12/21/2010 5:18:29 PM PST by OldDeckHand
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To: Baladas
I was in the 96th percentile when I took the ASVAB back in the early 80's, and this article really alarms me, because I didn't think it was all that much of an intellectual wrestling match, given the questions they presented at the time. The microwave/Nintendo generation is in grave danger of devolving into a race of slack-jawed, swinging-loined, government-dependent laborers, just the way their overlords have planned it.

Props to cripplecreek for the graphics!

13 posted on 12/21/2010 5:18:39 PM PST by Viking2002 (2012 - NO PRISONERS! NO QUARTER!)
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To: Baladas

The hope part of the “HOPIE/CHANGIE” scam is the hope that all the faggots are in the 25% that fail.

Because if they get in and get thru boot camp and into a close combat outfit, they’re gonna wind up buried out in the training areas.

“PFC Bruce Bagadonuts, having been AWOL for 30 days, is now declared a deserter.”


14 posted on 12/21/2010 5:19:46 PM PST by 2nd Bn, 11th Mar (All sweat, no equity)
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To: Baladas

“”U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the AP. “I am deeply troubled by the national security burden created by America’s underperforming education system.””

Jeez Arnie - where have you been for the past 40 years? It’s your people who have made sure students don’t learn anything. They aren’t there to learn. They are there to be indoctrinated. Don’t pretend to be surprised or disappointed. You got what you wanted - a dumbed down society courtesy of the dems in this country! National Security? What’s that to dems?


15 posted on 12/21/2010 5:20:28 PM PST by Thank You Rush
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To: Baladas

Don’t worry, the recruiting office is overflowing in Haight-Ashbury.


16 posted on 12/21/2010 5:21:09 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed, and I do not give a damn.)
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To: Baladas
So..after screening out the dregs...as I see this...It means the US Military is getting the Brightest & the Best...(ever the optimist I are)
17 posted on 12/21/2010 5:25:41 PM PST by Tainan (Cogito, ergo conservatus - Domari Nolo)
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To: maddog55

Perhaps some children are being left behind. If only we could send them all to quality private christian schools, I’m sure they would learn more.


18 posted on 12/21/2010 5:27:48 PM PST by thenooch
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To: Baladas; All
The Education Trust

Does anyone here really think these people are concerned about our military or the childrunz?

This is about trying to funnel more taxpayer money into the public Skrool System!

19 posted on 12/21/2010 5:30:48 PM PST by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: Thank You Rush

Not to worry. We’ll just throw a trillion or two more money into the edumacashun system. Nothing a little more in tax loot can’t solve.


20 posted on 12/21/2010 5:33:50 PM PST by Jim Robinson (Rebellion is brewing!! Nuke the corrupt commie bastards to HELL!!)
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