Posted on Jul 22, 2014
Should DoD establish a policy that enlisted leaders have at least an equivalent civilian education to their officer counterpart?
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Should DoD establish a policy that the SEL for an Officer have at least an equivalent civilian education to their officer counterpart? An example being that at the E7 grade, you deal primarily with O1-O2 who have at least a Bachelor's - should they have a Bachelor's as well? E8-E9 working towards Master's, et cetera?
I see many SELs who know their job inside and out, but seem marginalized next to their officers' educations. Additionally, Field Grade Officers have a chance for military-sponsored degrees, such as the War College, that are often not offered to Enlisted. Wouldn't it help the overall DoD mission to have a level field between the two sides?
Why or why not?
Sub-question: If the highest enlisted PME was a degree-producing course, similar to the War College, would it be advantageous to the military as a whole?
I see many SELs who know their job inside and out, but seem marginalized next to their officers' educations. Additionally, Field Grade Officers have a chance for military-sponsored degrees, such as the War College, that are often not offered to Enlisted. Wouldn't it help the overall DoD mission to have a level field between the two sides?
Why or why not?
Sub-question: If the highest enlisted PME was a degree-producing course, similar to the War College, would it be advantageous to the military as a whole?
Education
College
NCOPD
Edited 10 y ago
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 10
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I think they should. I see some senior enlisted who by virtue of years, know their job and know the military way but in their writing and their speaking you can tell their education is lacking. Case in point, an E7 down range who could not even read his own PowerPoint slides that were on about a 7th grade reading level. Uneducated leaders are ineffective to lead troops who can point out grammatical errors in their writing and speech.
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CMDCM Gene Treants
Unfortunately, I have seen the same thing from officers who graduated from service academies as well as other universities. Education and degrees does not always mean effective skills in English Communications or other means of expression.
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CPT (Join to see)
If any of my troops were to point out grammatical errors of a presenter they would spend four weekends attending "School of the Soldier". Hopefully the "School" still exists but if not, I am certain something equally instructive could be found by my "Top". Thankfully I am now past dealing with issues of this nature.
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It probably will happen in the future. Not so long ago, it was rare for a Senior NCO to have any education beyond high school. I think the Army should do something similar to the Air Force where you get college credit for you military training and experience so by the time you are an E-6 you have an associates degree, E-7 a bachelors and a masters at E-9.
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I know some senior NCOs that have forgotten more than most will ever know about their specialty. Credit for their decades of experience must always be seriously considered. Regrettably, he state of higher learning in the US today has also reduced the theoretical and practical value of an undergraduate degree a great deal.
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