Nearly 1 in 4 fails military exam

[douglas9]

MIAMI (AP) — Nearly one-fourth of the students who try to join the U.S. Army fail its entrance exam, painting a grim picture of an education system that produces graduates who can't answer basic math, science and reading questions, according to a new study released Tuesday.

The report by The Education Trust bolsters a growing worry among military and education leaders that the pool of young people qualified for military service will grow too small.

"Too many of our high school students are not graduating ready to begin college or a career — and many are not eligible to serve in our armed forces," U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the AP. "I am deeply troubled by the national security burden created by America's underperforming education system."

The effect of the low eligibility rate might not be noticeable now — the Department of Defense says it is meeting its recruitment goals — but that could change as the economy improves, said retired Navy Rear Admiral Jamie Barnett.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jmflKFlGubkYUuLnntRO-rOuuNRw?docId=c90a31f788054427ab6f7176f6c1d4c9

[EV_Ares]

1. Wow, man, that is a very disturbing and telling indictment of our societ, where we are , where we

headed, whatever. Also, I think it is part of the reason the republicans gain with the more ignorance we have in our society. There are a lot of these people who subscribe to the BS the republicans throw out.

[LiberalArkie]

2. The movie Idiocracy is very prophetic

[PavePusher]

3. Some major failure of stats in that article.

They neglected to state if applications had gone up or down. This could easily be expalined by increasing numbers of people applying, with a higher percentage from lower schoolastic acheivement, due to the job market being highly competitive right now.

Not enough info to make any valid judgements.

[douglas9]

4. The Edutcation Trust Report can be found at link below (pdf) n/t

http://www.edtrust.org/sites/edtrust.org/files/publications/files/ASVAB_4.pdf

[PavePusher]

5. Another view...

http://www.jerrypournelle.com/view/2010/Q4/view654.html#Wednesday

"http://www.google.com/hostednews/
ap/article/ALeqM5jmflKFlGubkYUuLn
ntRO-rOuuNRw?docId=c90a31f7880544
27ab6f7176f6c1d4c9

Nearly one-fourth of the students who try to join the U.S. Army fail its entrance exam, painting a grim picture of an education system that produces graduates who can't answer basic math, science and reading questions, according to a new study released Tuesday.

The report by The Education Trust bolsters a growing worry among military and education leaders that the pool of young people qualified for military service will grow too small.<snip>

This article with its cry of despair lead was in today's Daily News along with some sample questions. It is certainly a condemnation of the school system, since all those who take the test have a high school education or GED equivalent. According to this article, only about 25% of those age 17 to 24 are even eligible to take the test. I haven't been following the changes to the AFQT (Armed Forces Qualification Test) but it used to be a rather good IQ test.

One presumes that none of the military services want recruits with IQ 85 or below. That's one standard deviation below the normal of 100."


More at link.

[jody]

6. AFQT is an excellent IQ test but it disturbs some intent upon social engineering. n/t