Posted on 05/21/2010 3:18:38 PM PDT by reaganaut1
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[T]he Naval Academy, where I have been a professor for 23 years, has lost its way. The same is true of the other service academies. They are a net loss to the taxpayers who finance them, as well as a huge disappointment to their students, who come expecting reality to match reputation. They need to be fixed or abolished.
The service academies are holdovers from the 19th century, when they were virtually the only avenue for producing an officer corps for the nation’s military and when such top-down institutions were taken for granted. But the world has changed, which the academies don’t seem to have noticed, or to have drawn any conclusions from.
With the rise after World War II of the Reserve Officer Training Corps programs at universities around the country, the academies now produce 20 percent or less of the officers in each service, at an average cost to taxpayers of nearly half a million dollars per student, more than four times what an R.O.T.C.-trained officer costs.
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Another program that is placing strain on the academies is an unofficial affirmative-action preference in admissions. While we can debate the merits of universities making diversity a priority in deciding which students to admit, how can one defend the use of race as a factor at taxpayer-financed academies — especially those whose purpose is to defend the Constitution? Yet, as I can confirm from the years I spent on the admissions board in 2002 and ’03 and from my conversations with more recent board members, if an applicant identifies himself or herself as non-white, the bar for qualification immediately drops.
Some in the administration have justified the admissions policies on the ground that it “takes all kinds” to be officers. But that’s not really what the academies recruit.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
thats why we have NCO’s
bookmark
He’s a professor of English. Case closed.
He’s just mad about “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”
Which means what? His sentences are complete and the punctuation is correct?
He’s actually mad at diversity over qualifications, lack of standards, and the decline of military discipline.
Did you read the article?
Even though the Academies produce only 20% of the leadership, I do believe that they produce a much higher percentage of top leaders in the Pentagon. The Academies therefore likely set the culture for the military. And just imagine - if someone wanted to change the culture of the military, then go ahead and abolish the Academies and get your officers from ROTC from Ivy-League schools. And boy, what a change in culture that would be!!!
If you want de-emphasize sports in the Academies, then do so. If you specifically want to raise academic standards, then do so. Those are probably good ideas. But otherwise the author seemed to have very vague and whining complaints that defied clear action.
...USNA grad
The far left wing of the Academies’ faculty.
If you’d been there you would know....
My guess is that one student too many AXED this English prof a question instead of asking it, and he’s just fed up.
I BELIEVE EVERY SINGLE WORD.
Do they produce a greater percentage of top leaders because the graduates are really better than the ROTC grads, or is it the simple fact that they are academy grads? If you are an academy grad, you are automatically going to be assumed as more qualified, regardless of whether you truly are.
I never read the NY Slimes.
Apparently not. I began to hear the same complaints from faculty at WP in the late 70’s and early 80’s when various standards were significantly lowered to allow the girls to attend and graduate. I am sure that the problems are much worse and that the BO administration would like to make every aspect of the military mediocre.
“Our Diversity Is Our Strength!” A doctrine that is killing America.
Perhaps sports should be de-emphasized. Compete at a lower NCAA level so
there are student athletes instead of athlete students. After a few years they will
find the appropriate level of competition. They should concentrate on the SAT
rather than YPG.
I am a ROTC graduate who served on the faculty of the U.S. Military Academy. I believe that the academies are a national treasure and important to our national defense. The arguments presented here are not new, they have been around for at least 50 years and probably more. They persist because there is some degree of truth to each of them. West Point does not offer hockey scholarships, but if you don’t think that the Army can’t figure out how to get an appointment for an aspiring hockey star, then I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. The overall athletic program is important, but high profile Division I sports are more important to recruiting and to alums than they are to development of future officers. Same argument goes on at most universities. Standards have been adjusted to accommodate women and minorities, ditto on other campii. More disconcerting is the retention rate of graduates beyond their service obligation. Over 50% of each class leaves the military soon after completing their obligation, some of that attrition encouraged by Academy recruiting that touts graduates accomplishment in politics, industry, and elsewhere in civvie land.
Let the arguments continue and let the pressure remain to retain high standards and implement reforms. The Academies are great but can do better. We should insist that they do. Many highly qualified candidates attend the academies because they can get a first rate education for free. As long as the academies compare favorably to America’s top universities, the military will get highly qualified officers whom would not choose that route if ROTC was their only choice.
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