Article-Minorities Underrepresented in Nominations

Maybe it just comes down to simple numbers...if for example, 75% of applicants for a nomination are white, don't be so surprised that the majority of those who gets nominations are white...but of course people will pounce on headlines like these and add to the narrative and feeling that there is really a race war going on in America (newsflash: there isn't).
 
Devil Doc said:
Plenty of blame to go around. A kid brought here or mixed in with the walking crowd crossing the border had no say in the decision. I have one student who can’t communicate in English. She is Central American. Two years ago I had a student who never said one word in class. She was embarrassed at her poor English. It took her twice as long to do assignments. I would tell her to turn it in and she’d get full credit. She refused and turned it in when completed. She’s from Ghana. She walked up to my room last year and with much improved language skills, asked if I would write her college recommendation letter. I was so choked up I could hardly say yes. I have a Central American girl without papers. She came to me for advice on how to get a job in healthcare without being a citizen. I referred her to a Salvadoran colleague. I had a student last year who had to move to Virginia Beach to stay with a relative. Her dad had been deported. I have lots more of these stories.
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Devil Doc said:
. The kids from the wrong side of the highway who are not qualified to join the military for lots of other reasons. Most of which are not their fault.
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Why are these students not qualified to join the military?
 
LurkingQuietly said:
Why are these students not qualified to join the military?
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Can’t speak English. Overweight. Criminal record. I live and work in MS-13 hot beds. Low ASVAB. Pressure to stay in the family business.

I wish our JROTC colonel would join this site. I’ve mentioned it to him a couple times. He could obviously speak on these issues and he also has a son at West Point. Maybe I’ll mention it again.
 
There have been several articles and reports in recent years, from a wide array of sources, typically citing obesity, criminal record and lack of high school degree/inability to pass ASVAB. “71%” seems to be the popular figure for percentage of the 17-24 year old population that would be ineligible for military service.
 
Devil Doc said:
Can’t speak English. Overweight. Criminal record. I live and work in MS-13 hot beds. Low ASVAB. Pressure to stay in the family business
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Which category was the young woman from Ghana in who went to college? Your original qualm was that these kids weren't qualified for military service by reason's which are not their fault. All of those reason's you stated are personal choices, including the ability not to speak English. I think you can get into the Marines with an ASVAB of 25.

I employ about 15 people. I could could easily double that number if I could find employees. I cannot hire undocumented people, since the work is relatively dangerous and we're required to have longshoreman's insurance on all of them. I hire everyone, unless they can't swim (We work in and around water. Actually I've never had anyone say they couldn't swim. I guess I'd let them wear a life jacket at this point, but I digress) So basically, we're educating people that we can't hire, and they all want to go to college. I don't see the logic in that, but once again this is a political issue and not for this forum.
 
She and the other kids are just a part of my big qualm about the neutering of education in the US. I know I used a lot of words but you’re picking and choosing sentences or sentence fragments. I didn’t say she went to college. I said she asked me to be her teacher recommender. She came to the US as a teen after suffering atrocities. She couldn’t speak the language but was put into a foreign environment and in class with kids who were born here.

My qualm is the dilution of educational standards for the sake of equity and narrowing the achievement gap. All kids on both ends of the spectrum and in the middle are suffering and the country continues to fall behind in math and science. Japan, China, and Singapore are eating our lunch because we don’t have the courage to fix a fixable problem.
 
Devil Doc said:
Plenty of blame to go around. A kid brought here or mixed in with the walking crowd crossing the border had no say in the decision. I have one student who can’t communicate in English. She is Central American. Two years ago I had a student who never said one word in class. She was embarrassed at her poor English. It took her twice as long to do assignments. I would tell her to turn it in and she’d get full credit. She refused and turned it in when completed. She’s from Ghana. She walked up to my room last year and with much improved language skills, asked if I would write her college recommendation letter. I was so choked up I could hardly say yes. I have a Central American girl without papers. She came to me for advice on how to get a job in healthcare without being a citizen. I referred her to a Salvadoran colleague. I had a student last year who had to move to Virginia Beach to stay with a relative. Her dad had been deported. I have lots more of these stories.

Most Americans on all sides of the issue read about it or just know about it from their 35000 foot view. It doesn’t really affect them. I live in the middle of it.
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Doc,

I’ve already spent too much time rewriting this post so I’ll leave it at this:

I love this post and I think it expresses a certain Americaness that the rest of world sees and admires, but cannot relate to.
 
Devil Doc said:
She and the other kids are just a part of my big qualm about the neutering of education in the US. I know I used a lot of words but you’re picking and choosing sentences or sentence fragments. I didn’t say she went to college. I said she asked me to be her teacher recommender. She came to the US as a teen after suffering atrocities. She couldn’t speak the language but was put into a foreign environment and in class with kids who were born here.

My qualm is the dilution of educational standards for the sake of equity and narrowing the achievement gap. All kids on both ends of the spectrum and in the middle are suffering and the country continues to fall behind in math and science. Japan, China, and Singapore are eating our lunch because we don’t have the courage to fix a fixable problem.
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You’re killing me. From my gut to your keyboard.

Many people think we can wall ourselves off behind a wall of trade barriers and selective importation of top tier STEM talent, when all it does is widen the achievement gap..
 
Devil Doc said:
My qualm is the dilution of educational standards for the sake of equity and narrowing the achievement gap. All kids on both ends of the spectrum and in the middle are suffering and the country continues to fall behind in math and science. Japan, China, and Singapore are eating our lunch because we don’t have the courage to fix a fixable problem.
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This thread was originally about the percentage underrepresented minorities attending the our military academies. Personally my opinion is that the best and brightest minorities (and there certainly are a lot of them) are choosing not to attend. Its probably a multifaceted problem.

Well, if your qualm is the dilution of educational standards in the state of Virginia, you've elected your representatives, live with them. Certain political movements want to redefine words....and the number one is word is "Equity". Equity now is "equality of outcome", not "equality of opportunity".
 
LurkingQuietly said:
This thread was originally about the percentage underrepresented minorities attending the our military academies. Personally my opinion is that the best and brightest minorities (and there certainly are a lot of them) are choosing not to attend. Its probably a multifaceted problem.

Well, if your qualm is the dilution of educational standards in the state of Virginia, you've elected your representatives, live with them. Certain political movements want to redefine words....and the number one is word is "Equity". Equity now is "equality of outcome", not "equality of opportunity".
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And what’s your qualm with me? You’ve been gauging at my eyes for hours.
 
...and another thing.

I responded to an article that was posted. I read the entire article. Also, I explained that the quest for equity was part of the dilution of education, but this isn’t happening only in Virginia. Students at both ends and in the middle of the spectrum are negatively affected.

And yes I know there are many bright and talented minority students. I have those as well. They just don’t need my help as much.
 
Unfortunately we will never be able to solve the fundamental issues in this country until we can openly talk about challenges such as these without people with differing views assuming the worst - on both sides of the political divide.

Very sad when someone provides a considered response and others choose to select parts of a post or misrepresent points and try to use it to negate a viewpoint.
 
brewmeist said:
You can't nomination someone
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I'm just embarrassed that I typed "You can't nomination someone" in my OP and am only catching it now, two weeks later. Now it's too late to edit...

My son offered to return to his HS to talk about USNA. He was politely told, "Thanks but no thanks." I remember when he was starting to look into attending a SA, we had to drive two hours to an exclusive private school to see a wonderful presentation on USNA and NROTC. So while the opportunity exists equally for all qualified candidates, the advertising certainly does not.

At my son's graduation ceremony, his BGO gave him his appointment on stage. It turned into a 5 minute presentation in front of 700 graduates and thousands of guests. The principal was steaming in the background. Ironically, there are now two more Midshipmen from his HS; both are female and minorities. I truly believe that presentation is what sparked the interest.
 
brewmeist said:
My son offered to return to his HS to talk about USNA. He was politely told, "Thanks but no thanks."
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That’s very disappointing. What restores some of my faith in humanity is this: DS and DD attended a small private school in the most liberal county of our purple-gone-blue state. Yet the school never hesitates to welcome our local BGO to campus several times a year for presentations and meetings. Helps explain why in the past few years, a senior class of ~ 60 has produced cadets/mids for SAs and ROTC annually.
 
brewmeist said:
The principal was steaming in the background.
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A couple of weeks after getting his appointment our Congressman came to the school to present DS with a certificate of appointment at an academy info event. The principal approached his mother and I afterwards and asked "Why in the world would you let him go to the Naval Academy?" Needless to say it was a very short conversation. Thankfully she retired a couple of years later.
 
brewmeist said:
My son offered to return to his HS to talk about USNA. He was politely told, "Thanks but no thanks." I remember when he was starting to look into attending a SA, we had to drive two hours to an exclusive private school to see a wonderful presentation on USNA and NROTC. So while the opportunity exists equally for all qualified candidates, the advertising certainly does not.
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My DS had a similar experience, but not at the public high schools in the Chicago area, but from some private high schools in Chicago. Two of these high priced private schools had alums attend both USNA, USMA and USCGA (that I know of).

At the reception following DS's graduation ceremony, a grandfather (and Marine veteran) of a fellow classmate, sought out my son to shake his hand for wanting to serve his country!
 
Devil Doc said:
We receive students from eight high schools from the side of the county with more immigrants and lower socioeconomic status. My classes are 95 percent non-white. These kids have kept me employed all these years and I’ve developed a trust and reputation with them as a teacher who’ll treat them right, teach them something, and write recommendation letters for college and other post-secondary programs.
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@Devil Doc
Doc:
You're full post #7 above has inspired me and answered a nagging question I've bounced around in my head for several years.
Thank you in more ways than can be full expressed here.
 
If I may,

I do believe it is on the students environment, culture, and exposure. For me, I was always around service members and their service as well as my grandfather and fathers' service inspired me to pursue a SA. For others, it is the same. USMA, USNA, and USAFA are held in high regard, at least in my community.

On the flip side, there are plenty of other students that are not about the life (the hardship/strictness of military life). There is also a negative connotation of the military where they believe everyone is going to fight in a battlefield (with the exception of the Air Force). Because of that negative connotation, many students see it as a risk going into any branch other than the Air Force (ironically, I know more asians that have applied/attended USAFA than the other SA's).

This is just an observation from my environment and community as well as online forums (not English/American) and is in no way backed by any statistical survey of any kind.
 
Preach said:
(ironically, I know more asians that have applied/attended USAFA than the other SA's).

This is just an observation from my environment and community as well as online forums (not English/American) and is in no way backed by any statistical survey of any kind.
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Can't 100% agree with you on that. Out of all the asians I know (including me), they hold an Equal (if not a little higher) esteem toward USMA and USNA than other SA's. Additionally, USMA and USNA is considered more "prestigious" in the eyes of Asian families due to its historical importance in the Pacific Front (think MacArthur and Nimitz).

The asians you know might just want to be pilots, and so USAFA was their #1 choice. Or they could have not been nominated to the other academies, and so USAFA was their only choice. Please don't generalize races or ethnicities.

***Not saying that 1 SA is more prestigious than others. They're equally prestigious and produce exceptional officers, which is why I applied to multiple SA's, and will attend USMA starting this summer.
 
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