Army opens prep school for dropouts to fill ranks

WAMom68

10-Year Member
Founding Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2006
Messages
1,139
Army opens prep school for dropouts to fill ranks

By Associated Press
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….

The full article: http://www.komonews.com/news/national/27527944.html

Very interesting. I am all for helping people get their high school diplomas.
 
With the news that the US will be fully out of Iraq by 2011, will such a prep school be necessary in just 3 short years? Regardless, it's a pretty cool concept and one that I like a lot.
 
I think that it's an excellent idea as long as it's honestly administered ( so the recruiting command doesn't meet their standards by white washing the record) and the burden of getting troops thru it is not on the units neither of which sounds like the case here. The theory has been that a HS degree implies that the individual has some degree of self discipline- but in reality individuals mature at a much different rate so the kid who dropped out may be the adult who desperately wants to recover from that teenage mistake and I think that it says something about an individual when they want something enough to essentially retrace their steps to rectify an earlier mistake.
 
You won't hear me complain so long as the folks being put through it deserve it, either because of chance or because it gives them an earnestly-desired second chance.
 
What surprised me from the article is that the Army is already accepting almost 1/3 of their recruits without HS diplomas.
 
Back
Top