Memphis9489
15-Year Member
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2008
- Messages
- 1,390
Two privileged midshipmen, with advantages unavailable to the vast majority of the high school students in America declare their classmates ‘unworthy’.
"Unworthy" is your choice of words.
You're getting a little melodramatic about this whole thing.
Everybody is aware that midshipmen have varied backgrounds. Midshipmen sometimes talk amongst themselves about their ACT/SAT scores, what courses they took in high school, how they did on AP exams, what courses they validated, how well they're doing in their current courses, their impressions of how difficult the curriculum is, etc. They also are very aware who is struggling academically and who is not. They develop a pretty good sense of individual academic aptitudes amongst themselves.
I don't think observing that there seems to be a huge gap between the very-academically qualified and the not-so-academically qualified is the same as saying somebody is "unworthy." You've added a level of harshness to the observation that was never intended.
I think it goes without saying that those who enter the academy with rather modest academic achievements and who continue to struggle while at the academy can often become great officers with many admirable attributes. And, conversely, academic achievement does not necessarily translate to great leadership.
Maybe that's why the academy accepted them despite their less than stellar academic background. They saw something else in them. I think that's great!
In my day, I would have to say that I did not have a similar observation. Oh, sure, we had the academic superstars ... and we had those who always seemed to struggle ... but, for the most part, there was a huge body of midshipmen who were somewhere in between. Most midshipmen were typically average when compared to their peers at the academy. My sons simply expressed that it was their impression that the "in between" group is not very large and that most people fall into one of the more extreme categories. I guess, if you take the overall average it probably comes out pretty much the same, year after year, but that doesn't mean the distribution doesn't change in order to get that average.
We don't seem to be getting along very well, do we? And I don't even know you. I'm guessing you're a very nice and reasonable person. And I bet we would probably agree on much more than on which we disagree.
Let's declare a peace treaty and I'll try not to be so controversial and politically incorrect if you promise to not try and frame everything I say in such a stark and polarizing manner.
I get the impression I have somehow personally offended you. If so, I apologize.
You and I have different perspectives of life at the Naval Academy and what it means to be a Naval Academy parent. Perhaps that is a healthy thing. People can read what you have to say ... read what I have to say ... and decide for themselves. Maybe there is actually some acceptable middle ground in that neither of us necessarily has the "right" or "wrong" impression - simply different impressions.
Since everybody seems to be embracing "diversity" with such vigor (with the exception of the Class of 2014), perhaps we can celebrate the "diversity" of opinions as well, especially on such minor issues as to whether a public facility should be only banning the PARENTS of Plebes from PEP but not the general public. Especially when, in practice, they ban neither.
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