For enlisted college education; should a degree that aligns with the Soldier's current MOS hold more weight for promotion consideration?

With so many younger SMs without degrees, the goal should be to get everyone educated!

This makes sense...so it'll prob never happen. :/

What you ask is interesting, in multiple levels...purely as an observation, I'd always found that it's generally not easy, or, in many instances, even possible, to do coursework in something one isn't actually working in, for myriad reasons. Chief among those is the simple fact that, as I found many times for me, no supervisor likes allowing those under them to spend time, or money, esp if a course is svc funded, on something not directly related to what a given supervisor actually expects someone under them to do for them day to day. Before my total perm disabikity, I worked under virtually every kind of boss, both active duty, as well as civilian, that walks, crawls, talks, and/or flies, and all, all, regardless of which svc someone is in, are pretty much going to think, and react, in pretty much that same fashion, irrespective of field, or the level of a given subordinate. Now, that being said, there is, good, bad, or indifferent, a certain minimal educational content that any educated mind is expected to be able to manifest, in order to be able to hold intelligent converse with others, that's simply a given, that applies as much to literary, historical, economic, sociologic, and psychological material, as it does to purely technical content needed to actually do a given job, per se. The more technical the area, the more prototypically the focus tends to be in specifics of technical content, whether a given science, engineering, math, physics, comp sci, chem, IT, clinical material, what have you. The purpose of education isn't purely vocational, though that is inextricably part of it, always...the purpose of education is to create a train of associations in the mind, that let one draw conclusions from accumulated fact, ostensibly on a usedul, practical level around suoeriors, oeers, and/or subordinates. And, the only way to accomplish that would be for all.svcs, all, irrespective of rank, irrespective of individual function, to quite simply require education for all svc mbrs, whether they want it, think they want it, think they don't want it, or don't want it...a teenager, or even a 20-something, is simply not old enough to have the intellectual and/or emotional perspective needed to discern, always, practically, what is desirable, and/or necessary for their career, plus, the prevalence of cell phones and video games as distractions only serve to compound that problem...no one can study off a computer screen, that simply isn't possible, and anyone who says it is possible, has zero clue what they're talking about...I've studied virtually just about every serious type of subject matter there is, I know how each of them is to be absorbed, how long each takes to absorb for normal minds, and specific study techniques I've either been taught, or worked out myself for being able to absorb them oroperly...the vast majority of students, I've observed, all too frequently have zero clue as to specific study skills,.and/or the level of.persistence, as well as dilligence, needed to be able to not merely pass a.given exam, on a given topic, but he able to actually retain the information thereafter to be able to hold such intelligent converse as I've described...some have, I've known many who have, I've known an equal fraction, however, who don't...most students done know how to read to study properly, which taxes their patience in seeking to absorb material properly...studying is a technical skill, that needs to be taught, as does reading, esp speed reading, which is absolutely necessary for any serious student to be able to absorb material with sufficient rapidity, to generate the needed train of assiciations...most college kids, I'd also observed,.also typically well their texts after a given semester, to try to save money, instead of developing a proper personal library...I've kept virtually every single set of lecture notes I've ever taken, with perhaps a few very old exceotions...proper students, properly trained minds, should eventually have a personal collection of, I'd guesstimate, sevl thousand texts, as personal reference material...computers have their place, but not as a substitute for the development of the mind, only as a supplement to such development...doing coursework part time while working is a major pain, I did it, for longer than I like to think about sometimes, I loathed the necessity, however, I had no choice, as that was the only way to learn specific topics I needed to absorb for specific tasks...degrees are mere signposts indicating an expected level of educational proficiency as a result of obtaining one...if one looks at the biographies of great military leaders, one typically finds that they all, for the most oart, had a mentor at one point, who was able to captivate the cupidity of their intellects...Gen Eisenhower, e.g., had one, I'd read, while assigned to the Panama Canal Zone...Gen MacArthur had a personal library inherited from his father, and read virtually incessantly, while not working...the svcs publish explicit reading lists, I'd continually get the USAF one while I was in, and spent virtually whole weekends at the installation library where I was...either a mind is going to take education seriously, or it isnt, all one can do is provide the tools, the regulations, the incentives...some minds will take advantage of such opportunities without being forced, others might need, candidly, a kick in the slate to make them do it, however, all, all svc more should, to my way of thinking, absolutely be read to do it, apart from at familial responsibilities, or necessary recreation, for necessary diversion, education is as much a responsibility of svc as marching, saluting, drills, PT, what have you...Gen Pershing went to law school, And Nimitz was an extremely serious scholar, Adm Rickover, whom a friend of mine actually interviewed with, though he decided he didn't want Navy, was known for being virtually superhuman as a student at Annapolis...the best military minds are ALWAYS, AlWAYS, the best educated minds on the pkanet, that's a virtually axiomatic principle of history, it always has been, it always will ne, there are ZERO exceptions to that dogma...those are my thoughts, such as they are, on that topic, for whatever they might be worth, they're obviously my own opinions, certainly, however, I think, also carry more than a fair grain of truth, that's all I'm trying to convey...if any of you have any reactions, I'd be most eager to hear them, of course, as well, many thanks....