Posted on Aug 13, 2015
Military Officers don't need a degree? What say you?
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Military Officers Don’t Need College Degrees
Military recruiters and top brass like to repeat the refrain that the average member of the armed forces is better educated than the average American. It’s true. According to the Defense Department, nearly 94% of enlisted personnel have a high-school diploma, while only 60% of Americans do. About 83% of officers have a bachelor’s degree, in comparison with 30% of the general population.
These statistics, though, involve a bit of self-selection: Most officers have a bachelor’s degree because becoming an officer generally requires one, though this prerequisite appears increasingly anachronistic.
For one thing, the requirement of a college degree is simply a box for officer candidates to check. It doesn’t matter to the armed forces where you went to school, what you studied, or how well you did—short of a minimal GPA level of about 2.5 out of 4.0.
Scholarships provided by the Reserve Officer Training Corps and military academies such as West Point and Annapolis may have more stringent criteria, but in general anyone with a four-year degree who can pass the basic background checks and physical requirements of the military may apply for Officer Candidate School.
Instead of mandating that officers have college degrees, the military should expand alternative avenues to officership. A few exceptions to the degree mandate already exist: Warrant officers or limited-duty officers—typically highly trained specialists in technical fields like avionics or equipment maintenance—have worked their way to officership. Their service is akin to apprenticeship, where useful knowledge is gained through practical experience, not textbook theory. Why not offer the same deal to other recruits?
Historically, a college degree signaled superior intelligence, critical reasoning and writing skills, and dedication. A degree holder could be expected to form logical, coherent arguments and effectively communicate ideas. But a college degree in 2015 no longer signals—let alone guarantees—much of anything.
According to a 2014 Lumina-Gallup poll, “just 11% of business leaders strongly agree that higher education institutions in this country are graduating students with the skills and competencies that their business needs, and 17% strongly disagree.” In a Chronicle for Higher Education survey published in March 2013, employers said that applicants with degrees lacked decision-making and problem-solving abilities, written and oral communication skills, adaptability, and even the capacity to manage multiple priorities.
Even more than in civilian environments, those are skills needed for war. If a college degree no longer confers them, then why should the armed forces require it at all? Beyond the usual arguments about the prohibitive cost for many high-school graduates unable to take on debt, a college degree isn’t needed to be successful. Peter Thiel, an accomplished tech businessman, offers a fellowship of $100,000 for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to skip college and build businesses instead. Companies started as a result now employ 200 people and have generated $200 million in economic activity, according to the fellowship.
Some may argue that obtaining a bachelor’s degree shows responsibility or maturity. Yet how much responsibility does a typical single, childless 22-year-old college senior have? Has he demonstrated greater responsibility than a 22-year-old corporal at the end of his first tour of duty? Has he even demonstrated greater responsibility than a 19-year-old private first class after six months of service?
The only mark of distinction that a college degree still indicates, perhaps, is dedication. It usually requires four or more years to achieve, and following through to the end suggests long-term commitment to a goal. Yet clearly, college and putting off the working world is not for everyone. In 2013, the six-year graduation rate in the U.S. was only 59%, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Commitment is certainly important to success in the military, but the armed forces already have a way to measure and test it: a four-year enlistment. If aspiring officers must demonstrate commitment and responsibility, completing a four-year enlistment should suffice. If they must prove raw intellectual aptitude, high scores on the military’s own General Classification Test should be enough. If they must have general knowledge and the ability to think and write coherently, an exam akin to the State Department’s Foreign Service Officer Test would work.
A combination of these could easily form a new path to an officer’s commission—and providing an alternative to the bachelor’s degree would produce an even more qualified officer corps.
http://www.wsj.com/article_email/military-officers-dont-need-college-degrees [login to see] -lMyQjAxMTI1NzE3MzMxNTM3Wj
Military recruiters and top brass like to repeat the refrain that the average member of the armed forces is better educated than the average American. It’s true. According to the Defense Department, nearly 94% of enlisted personnel have a high-school diploma, while only 60% of Americans do. About 83% of officers have a bachelor’s degree, in comparison with 30% of the general population.
These statistics, though, involve a bit of self-selection: Most officers have a bachelor’s degree because becoming an officer generally requires one, though this prerequisite appears increasingly anachronistic.
For one thing, the requirement of a college degree is simply a box for officer candidates to check. It doesn’t matter to the armed forces where you went to school, what you studied, or how well you did—short of a minimal GPA level of about 2.5 out of 4.0.
Scholarships provided by the Reserve Officer Training Corps and military academies such as West Point and Annapolis may have more stringent criteria, but in general anyone with a four-year degree who can pass the basic background checks and physical requirements of the military may apply for Officer Candidate School.
Instead of mandating that officers have college degrees, the military should expand alternative avenues to officership. A few exceptions to the degree mandate already exist: Warrant officers or limited-duty officers—typically highly trained specialists in technical fields like avionics or equipment maintenance—have worked their way to officership. Their service is akin to apprenticeship, where useful knowledge is gained through practical experience, not textbook theory. Why not offer the same deal to other recruits?
Historically, a college degree signaled superior intelligence, critical reasoning and writing skills, and dedication. A degree holder could be expected to form logical, coherent arguments and effectively communicate ideas. But a college degree in 2015 no longer signals—let alone guarantees—much of anything.
According to a 2014 Lumina-Gallup poll, “just 11% of business leaders strongly agree that higher education institutions in this country are graduating students with the skills and competencies that their business needs, and 17% strongly disagree.” In a Chronicle for Higher Education survey published in March 2013, employers said that applicants with degrees lacked decision-making and problem-solving abilities, written and oral communication skills, adaptability, and even the capacity to manage multiple priorities.
Even more than in civilian environments, those are skills needed for war. If a college degree no longer confers them, then why should the armed forces require it at all? Beyond the usual arguments about the prohibitive cost for many high-school graduates unable to take on debt, a college degree isn’t needed to be successful. Peter Thiel, an accomplished tech businessman, offers a fellowship of $100,000 for aspiring entrepreneurs who want to skip college and build businesses instead. Companies started as a result now employ 200 people and have generated $200 million in economic activity, according to the fellowship.
Some may argue that obtaining a bachelor’s degree shows responsibility or maturity. Yet how much responsibility does a typical single, childless 22-year-old college senior have? Has he demonstrated greater responsibility than a 22-year-old corporal at the end of his first tour of duty? Has he even demonstrated greater responsibility than a 19-year-old private first class after six months of service?
The only mark of distinction that a college degree still indicates, perhaps, is dedication. It usually requires four or more years to achieve, and following through to the end suggests long-term commitment to a goal. Yet clearly, college and putting off the working world is not for everyone. In 2013, the six-year graduation rate in the U.S. was only 59%, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Commitment is certainly important to success in the military, but the armed forces already have a way to measure and test it: a four-year enlistment. If aspiring officers must demonstrate commitment and responsibility, completing a four-year enlistment should suffice. If they must prove raw intellectual aptitude, high scores on the military’s own General Classification Test should be enough. If they must have general knowledge and the ability to think and write coherently, an exam akin to the State Department’s Foreign Service Officer Test would work.
A combination of these could easily form a new path to an officer’s commission—and providing an alternative to the bachelor’s degree would produce an even more qualified officer corps.
http://www.wsj.com/article_email/military-officers-dont-need-college-degrees [login to see] -lMyQjAxMTI1NzE3MzMxNTM3Wj
Officers
Education
Rank
Bachelors Degree
Commission
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 126
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Hell yes they need degrees, most LT's couldn't find their way out of a car, let alone lead soldiers. The best Officers are always the prior enlisted.
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Historically, under Title 10, one only needs a High School Diploma to obtain a direct commission as a US Officer. However, the ROPMA and DOPMA changed many requirements for selection and retention that virtually locks in college degrees. If you read or watched the Wizard of Oz, you know the while the Scarecrow thought he didn't have a brain, he was actually very smart; what he needed was validation.
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This gives you reason to pause and think about it. As many have said, the degree isn't a promise that you will do well as an officer; only time will tell that. And now we are seeing more and more enlisted coming to or earning their degree while in service. The number of advanced degrees among all ranks has gone up. Could some great senior NCOs make great officers? Of course they could. But at the same time, I think it speaks to the quality of someone. It gives them some great tools to bring to fight but they must remember, a LT is forged by the work of the NCOs that serve with them. To continuously listen and learn from the NCOs around you can serve any officer well. But I still say, things should remain as they are.
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I'm a little on the fence. I spent some time in ROTC after serving an active duty tour. The experience ultimately prompted me to return to being enlisted. Too often nowadays I've seen too many lt's in charge of soldiers who don't understand the systems their men use, how to deploy them in the field, or other basic leadership skills. They may be educated, but their soldiering skills suffer.
It's hard to "make" good leaders. Education is only part of the equation. Having a degree does not often equate intelligence, but rather the ability to read books and write papers. We need our officers to be capable of more than that. You have to know your people, know more than they know so you can properly employ them. A degree is only part of the education. I think I get where the article is stabbing at but its doing it all wrong.
Rather than place such an immense focus on a degree and gpa, more emphasis needs to placed the soldier level. We aren't looking to officers only for degrees, we look to them to lead soldiers. We need to bring that dynamic back into focus.
I've seen brilliant leaders, and not so much. There are probably ways we can address the current system to dial the results into a more desirable mode of output. Doing away with degrees? Not likely the best approach, but certainly bringing the soldier aspect back into sharper focus.
It's hard to "make" good leaders. Education is only part of the equation. Having a degree does not often equate intelligence, but rather the ability to read books and write papers. We need our officers to be capable of more than that. You have to know your people, know more than they know so you can properly employ them. A degree is only part of the education. I think I get where the article is stabbing at but its doing it all wrong.
Rather than place such an immense focus on a degree and gpa, more emphasis needs to placed the soldier level. We aren't looking to officers only for degrees, we look to them to lead soldiers. We need to bring that dynamic back into focus.
I've seen brilliant leaders, and not so much. There are probably ways we can address the current system to dial the results into a more desirable mode of output. Doing away with degrees? Not likely the best approach, but certainly bringing the soldier aspect back into sharper focus.
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Having attended the USAFA the author skirts around the selection process for military schools with one word "stringent". I would like to know of any other higher education institutions that require the blessing from the Senate or House of Representatives. I'd also like to see the numbers on advance degrees in the military. Personally I feel the military is the best educated work force in America.
Does anyone else find it funny the LT is working on his MBA at Harvard yet is complaining about cost and benefits of higher education?
Does anyone else find it funny the LT is working on his MBA at Harvard yet is complaining about cost and benefits of higher education?
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SPC David S.
I will say that a degree alone does not make one a good leader however I don't see cons in having a degree other than time and money investment. But as the LT is suggesting alternatives forms of education the time and money factors are still at play. As well I'd like to know how many make past CPT without a degree.
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I recall my XO telling me that without a College Degree I would probably attain the rank of Captain as many had before..But with a college degree I would have an opportunity to attain a higher officer rank. So I requested to return to college, with the GI Bill, & then re apply for OCS.. Btw my XO was passed over for promotion to Major retired with 20 years of service He didn't have a college degree.
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If bachelor's degrees guaranteed that the persons at least learned critical and creative thinking, I would say yes. However, I am not impressed with current curriculae of most colleges.
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Sgt Tom Cunnally
I think an officer is better qualified than me to answer your question. But as you know many Promotions Boards do give weight to an officer with a college degree vs one who doesn't have one... How much the college degree is weighted vs other qualifications I am not sure. I worked with several officers who didn't have a college degree & were passed over for promotions. They all thought having a college degree would have helped them but how much more I am not sure??
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LT (Join to see)
I would suggest that one of the real "values" of the degree is simply that you can commit to something and complete it.
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MAJ (Join to see)
I'm curious to know what service has officers who have not acquired at a minimum a bachelor's degree
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This is well written and I can appreciate the points made. However, in my opinion the real fact is that the military is on the cusp of requiring that future enlisted will need at least an Associate Degree to be considered suitable NCO's, and WO's/ LDO's will mandate at least an Associate Degree to be considered for advancement. Given this requirement the Officer Corps is going to require a Master's Degree to be considered for Field Grade rank. This is not a bad thing but rather stresses the importance that education is as valuable a tool as any technology.
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