Army opens prep school for HS dropouts to fill ranks

[elehhhhna]

Army opens prep school for dropouts to fill ranks
By SUSANNE M. SCHAFER Associated Press Writer

FORT JACKSON, S.C. (AP) - 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."

http://news.findlaw.com/ap/other/1110/08-27-2008/20080827040505_13.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. :^( I hate the whole-education-as-carrot tactic.

[parabellumklr]

2. So you'd rather

see them left as drop outs flipping burgers at their McJobs?

[Gormy Cuss]

3. Or maybe getting GEDs in their community programs?

Besides, lots of burger flippers have their high school diplomas or GEDs.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. No, I'd rather have a comprehensive gov't paid education system like many

socialist nations have, that covers life-long learning.

[Selatius]

9. A point of clarity on "socialist" nations. No such nation exists.

What you're confusing "socialist" with is "social democracy." Nations like France, Sweden, and Germany are considered social democratic because they have elements of capitalism such as private enterprise and private ownership of resources, but they have coupled that with extensive labor protections and large social safety nets.

There is a difference in Europe between Social Democrats and members of the various Socialist parties there. The Socialist Parties always wanted to replace all private enterprise, whereas Social Democrats have felt that a mixed economy is the ultimate goal.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. All right, point of clarity taken. But my wish still stands. Gov't paid education for all

for life. Screw dragging student loans around with you for decades. x(

[Selatius]

11. I'll tell you one thing about France's college education system.

For a four-year degree, typical annual costs for tuition, depending on the major, can range between 150 Euros to around 700 Euros.

That's right. It costs that much for one year of public education at France's universities because they heavily subsidize public education there. If it can be demonstrated that you are below their poverty line, you get your tuition waived. You could literally work a summer job and accrue enough money to cover two semesters of tuition and have enough left over for food and shelter.

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. I seem to recall that the Netherlands also has a good education system as far

as being accessible to all, but I don't have any stats to back that up. :(

I wonder how many more people in the USA would go to college under a system like France's? I wonder how many more would be able to buy a house early in their life if they didn't carry all those student loans around?

[tabasco]

13. Here's a link for you:

www.goarmy.com

Sign up, coward troll.

I did my time in the infantry.

[Gormy Cuss]

6. I don't think it's a bad idea since we don't offer enough direct education assistance these days.

At least it offers a way for those who really want to join but can't meet the education standard.

[MikeE]

4. 365Gay.com brought up an interesting point ...

about that. They sited the number of college educated people that are discharged each day under DADT, and how many are considered to have skills that are considered "mission critical", but instead are going after the dropouts.

[SoCalDem]

7. Back in my day they called it reform school n/t

[Selatius]

8. They just need bodies to man checkpoints and guard perimeters in Iraq. There's a shortage.

The situation in Afghanistan and Iraq has stretched to the breaking point the professional military. There just isn't enough people to cover it all, and people get deployed constantly. As the body counts rise, fewer and fewer people are willing to sign up, so the military has to drop standards in order to meet quotas or exceed them.