Posted on Aug 30, 2023
Vivek Ramaswamy suggests adding athletic component to the SAT
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A unique proposal for sure...I actually like it (as a multi racial, multi sport athlete who scored 1490/1600)
Vivek Ramaswamy suggests adding athletic component to the SAT
Posted from theblaze.com
Election 2024
Education
Fitness
College
Edited 9 mo ago
Posted 9 mo ago
Responses: 4
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No. Just... no.
Physical fitness is important. But it has little influence on Scholastic Aptitude (which is what the SA in SAT stands for). I didn't say none... but little.
How do you think Einstein would have done on a PT test? Or Sartre, Werner von Braun, Hawking, John Fields, Kim Peek or Franklin Roosevelt? (If you have to look up a couple names, do so! All are truly awe-inspiring, IMHO.)
Athletic ability - or lack thereof - should not be a determinate factor in post-secondary education.
Physical fitness is important. But it has little influence on Scholastic Aptitude (which is what the SA in SAT stands for). I didn't say none... but little.
How do you think Einstein would have done on a PT test? Or Sartre, Werner von Braun, Hawking, John Fields, Kim Peek or Franklin Roosevelt? (If you have to look up a couple names, do so! All are truly awe-inspiring, IMHO.)
Athletic ability - or lack thereof - should not be a determinate factor in post-secondary education.
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CSM Chuck Stafford
SFC Casey O'Mally I think the intent of Vivek's comment was to be used as another discriminator tool for post high school educators.
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1. Not all college students are able bodied. Some are smart, but physically handicapped.
2. Ramaswamy's proposal is hypocritical since he did not participate in any college athletics.
2. Ramaswamy's proposal is hypocritical since he did not participate in any college athletics.
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CSM Chuck Stafford
I'm not sure hypocritical is the right word as went to school prior to this revelation as opposed to saying something and doing the opposite; people should be allowed to mature and evolve - but I get the intent here -- that said maybe he had an introspective awakening and found that being surrounded by eggheads wasn't the most diverse experience he could have had in college.
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People are going to foul and say it is discriminatory but the APFT helped me through my career because I managed between a 270 and a 300 most of my career.
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SFC Casey O'Mally
No offense is intended by this, Sir, but that is an absolutely horrible thing. Especially for an Officer.
As long as basic standards are met such that I have confidence an Officer will be able to keep up and pull their own weight on the battlefield, then fitness is a complete nonfactor. How well you do the J-O-B matters - and is all that matters.
Officers (or NCOs) getting ahead because they can run fast is just pure BS. IMHO.
(And I maintained a 290+ for my Infantry years and a 270+ for my MI years up until I went on back to back to back to back profiles for my knees and ankles. This isn't sour grapes or jealousy.)
As long as basic standards are met such that I have confidence an Officer will be able to keep up and pull their own weight on the battlefield, then fitness is a complete nonfactor. How well you do the J-O-B matters - and is all that matters.
Officers (or NCOs) getting ahead because they can run fast is just pure BS. IMHO.
(And I maintained a 290+ for my Infantry years and a 270+ for my MI years up until I went on back to back to back to back profiles for my knees and ankles. This isn't sour grapes or jealousy.)
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LTC (Join to see)
SFC Casey O'Mally well I wasn't Infantry. I was military police and I was in the Army National guard. I will also was 31 years old when I went through basic and I was the oldest person that graduated from my training company.
I actually was disappointed that I couldn't get my old runtime of 11 minutes in the 2 Mile when I ran in high school but I knew I was almost 16 years past that point. I'm sorry you had bad knees and back and I've heard this happens a lot because of being dismounted. I also wasn't active duty so I wasn't forced to go on Long Road marches with heavy packs. I have met others who were active duty who had flat feet and bad knees from being infantry in the Marine Corps or in the active army. I am a courier today at 61 years old and my knees are still good. I just make sure to wear really good boots and I wear two layers of socks because I still put in 20,000 steps a day and I still carry sometimes heavy boxes so I'm lucky that I don't have problems as of yet. I even broke my ankle in Afghanistan back in 9 and I'm glad it has not gone arthritic like the Veterans Administration rep told me it would. I work in cold climates and often it's 20 below zero here for most of the winter so I'm lucky I can still hack it though I wear all my Gore-Tex and silk pajama cold weather here that I was able to keep from the army. Remember stuff that you were sweating in you're able to keep so those long johns, those silk pajamas, all that cold weather gear and especially the neck gator is the best thing to have in cold weather. I also was Prior enlisted so I like to show you that as a specialist conway, I also pulled my own.
I actually was disappointed that I couldn't get my old runtime of 11 minutes in the 2 Mile when I ran in high school but I knew I was almost 16 years past that point. I'm sorry you had bad knees and back and I've heard this happens a lot because of being dismounted. I also wasn't active duty so I wasn't forced to go on Long Road marches with heavy packs. I have met others who were active duty who had flat feet and bad knees from being infantry in the Marine Corps or in the active army. I am a courier today at 61 years old and my knees are still good. I just make sure to wear really good boots and I wear two layers of socks because I still put in 20,000 steps a day and I still carry sometimes heavy boxes so I'm lucky that I don't have problems as of yet. I even broke my ankle in Afghanistan back in 9 and I'm glad it has not gone arthritic like the Veterans Administration rep told me it would. I work in cold climates and often it's 20 below zero here for most of the winter so I'm lucky I can still hack it though I wear all my Gore-Tex and silk pajama cold weather here that I was able to keep from the army. Remember stuff that you were sweating in you're able to keep so those long johns, those silk pajamas, all that cold weather gear and especially the neck gator is the best thing to have in cold weather. I also was Prior enlisted so I like to show you that as a specialist conway, I also pulled my own.
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LTC (Join to see)
SFC Casey O'Mally it wasn't the only Factor but it is set me apart from the rest. I never had to get taped, I never was on profile except for when I broke my ankle in Afghanistan. By the time I went back to canada, I was fit for duty. Because I lived in canada, the Army hospital at Joint Base Lewis-McChord wouldn't let me go back to Canada and be assigned to the Wounded Warrior Project because they didn't trust the Canadian veterans administration. So I disagree with you, PT does make a difference or it did it one time. All things being equal, if you're physically fit especially in the Army Reserve and National Guard because you have to exercise on your own. Except for being on active duty, you're not hitting the gym except on your own time. You're doing your own personal workout, you're not doing group pt. Sure, you do group TT when you have your weekend drill or when you're on temporary active duty, so it it's just self discipline because we do have or had officers who failed the PT test and failed height and weight. We had some Stellar officers and some stellar ncos. Sure, not finishing your required education or not being picked to go to schools. Remember, if you failed height and weight, you were flagged and you couldn't go to school, you couldn't get promoted. I had some ups and downs and even had some career issues but I persevered and changed units and didn't let politics stand in my way of getting promoted down the road.
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CSM Chuck Stafford
SFC Casey O'Mally - I agree. Fitness should not be the main factor for matriculating through the ranks, it should however be a discriminator - all things being equal. If all you can do is PT, then go work in the gym; the rest of us have warfighting to do
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