This topic has nothing directly to do with the "Army"; but indirectly, those who eventually elect to join the Army are going to come from what I believe is a "not so good" education system.
Today, my wife and I attended a two-hour long 8th grade "awards" program which involved our granddaughter. While there were numerous "shining stars" recognized, there were many more who did little more than shuffle in their seats and talk as brighter and more well behaved students paraded accross the stage. Teachers spaced every other few rows apart worked hard to keep the background noise at a minimum. There were cheers and shouts, all well deserved, but I still left with a feeling that many who had been given recognition either did not fully appreciate what they had been recognized for, or else felt that what they had been given was something they were entitled to, virtue of the fact they had been to class and passed their standards of learning (SOL) test.
Thanks to the government's "no child left behind" program, what we now have in our schools are teachers having little time other than to just teach those subjects that wil be a part of the SOL. There are few times to "experiment" or to expand on learning by reaching out into new areas. Fewer and fewer students seem to think originally anymore, and way too many are unable to sever themselves from learning crutches such as calculators, computers and online "research" to seek words to cut and paste into required school writing assignments.
Our oldest daughter teaches 8th grade science, and she usually comes home daily during the school year frustrated by what she is having to do. Never-the-less she reports early the next day to deal with whatever comes her way. She is paid far too little for what she does, and I don't say that because she is my daughter.
