February 24, 2016
George Washington resigned as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army on December 23, 1783, ending a career that spanned more of his adult life than his combined years in the Continental Congress and as president. Today, just two days after his birthday, I wonder what Washington would think about the role education plays in the development of our military, particularly given our long season of war.
On one hand, Washington would be pleased to know that men and women of the armed forces are among the best and brightest of their generation. According to data from George Washington University, in 2010, 82% of military officers held at least a bachelor’s degree. Ninety-three percent of enlisted soldiers had a high school diploma.
Twenty20.
Yet while recruiting America’s brightest for the armed forces remains a national priority, there has also been an alarming rise in the number of men and women ineligible for military service in recent years. In 2010, for example, a group of retired military leaders commissioned a report titled Too Fat to Fight. The report found that 75% of Americans age 17 to 24 are unable to join the military because they “failed to graduate high school, have criminal records, or are physically unfit.” In fact, the Army’s Accessions Command has estimated that 9 million men and women could not join the military if they wanted to because they are unable to pass the fitness test.
Things are not much better on the education side of the equation. According to Shut Out of the Military, a national survey of 350,000 high school graduates who took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) examination between 2004 and 2009, one in five failed to meet the minimum math, science, reading, and problem-solving scores required to enlist in the US Army. Approximately 39% of Black applicants and 29% of Hispanic applicants failed the exam. Some Blacks and Hispanics who passed did so with lower scores, which means they could only qualify for lower-skilled military jobs. This is troubling because these individuals leave the military lacking the opportunity to obtain the types of high-skilled, high-salary civilian occupations that they would otherwise be able to access.
The origins of these problems begin well before applicants arrive at military recruitment stations. According to a 2013 National Center for Health Statistics study, childhood obesity has tripled since 1980. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 1 out of 5 individuals age 12-19 were obese in 2012.
While negative indicators of children’s health are increasing, their academic achievement within the last 50 years remains mixed. Researchers including Eric Hanushek have analyzed achievement data for 12th graders on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), known as the “Nation’s Report Card.” Seventeen-year-olds’ scores in math and reading were both virtually unchanged between 1970 and 2012. Although Hanushek’s focus was on the black-white achievement gap since 1965, his conclusion is relevant here: “After nearly a half century of supposed progress … the modest improvements … can only be called a national embarrassment.”
A group of scholars and executives, which included my AEI colleague Rick Hess, reached a similar, though more military-focused conclusion in a report published by the Council on Foreign Relations in 2012: “In short, America’s failure to educate is affecting its national security.” And former US secretary of education Arne Duncan has also expressed concern:
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. I am deeply troubled by the national security burden created by America’s underperforming education system.
Our solution to this problem should not be about requiring more high school graduates to enlist in the military. What itshould be about is ensuring that those committed to serving our country are able to do so, and that the failures of our public health and education systems are not the reason anyone is held back. Entering the military, just like entering college, is a choice — but it remains an elusive choice if students are underprepared.
Today, we want all students to be college-and-career ready. But why not expand the scope to help prepare interested students to be military ready? Education is not just about academic performance; it is integral for the creation and maintenance of a healthy, productive, and safe society that prepares every student for his or her chosen path—especially if that path is to defend the Constitution of the United States and the people who call America home.
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