Why We Should Get Rid of West Point - and Air Force Academy, and Annapolis

[afa_mom]

I just feel like hornetguy will love this article.......if he has time to read it since he must be busy playing golf.


The Washington Post
By Thomas E. Ricks
Sunday, April 19, 2009

Want to trim the federal budget and improve the military at the same time? Shut down West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy, and use some of the savings to expand ROTC scholarships.

After covering the U.S. military for nearly two decades, I've concluded that graduates of the service academies don't stand out compared to other officers. Yet producing them is more than twice as expensive as taking in graduates of civilian schools ($300,000 per West Point product vs. $130,000 for ROTC student). On top of the economic advantage, I've been told by some commanders that they prefer officers who come out of ROTC programs, because they tend to be better educated and less cynical about the military.

This is no knock on the academies' graduates. They are crackerjack smart and dedicated to national service. They remind me of the best of the Ivy League, but too often they're getting community-college educations. Although West Point's history and social science departments provided much intellectual firepower in rethinking the U.S. approach to Iraq, most of West Point's faculty lacks doctorates. Why not send young people to more rigorous institutions on full scholarships, and then, upon graduation, give them a military education at a short-term military school? Not only do ROTC graduates make fine officers -- three of the last six chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff reached the military that way -- they also would be educated alongside future doctors, judges, teachers, executives, mayors and members of Congress. That would be good for both the military and the society it protects.

We should also consider closing the services' war colleges, where colonels supposedly learn strategic thinking. These institutions strike me as second-rate. If we want to open the minds of rising officers and prepare them for top command, we should send them to civilian schools where their assumptions will be challenged, and where they will interact with diplomats and executives, not to a service institution where they can reinforce their biases while getting in afternoon golf games.
Just ask David Petraeus, a Princeton PhD.

Thomas E. Ricks is a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and author of "The Gamble," about the Iraq war from 2006 to 2008. He will discuss this article at 1 p.m. on Monday at Live Q&As - washingtonpost.com.

[RoleoMom]

Originally Posted by afa_mom

If we want to open the minds of rising officers and prepare them for top command, we should send them to civilian schools where their assumptions will be challenged, and where they will interact with diplomats and executives, not to a service institution where they can reinforce their biases while getting in afternoon golf games.
Just ask David Petraeus, a Princeton PhD.

IMHO, I beg to differ with Ricks. It certainly seems to me that Mr. Ricks is the assuming one. Stating that the cadets have assumptions that are not challenged at the Academies is not what I have understood from my cadet. From what I've seen, experienced and read, the "civilian schools" are the ones that have the bias and disparage anyone who challenges their presumptions. I, too, believe the ROTC programs are extremely worthwhile. But, I doubt Mr. Ricks is directing his opinions on ROTC to Columbia, Yale, Brown and Harvard - who refuse to have on-campus ROTC programs, yet bravely accept our tax dollars.

[packermatt7]

what a half-wit twit.

[hornetguy]

phew, just got back from golf. Go AF, beat Navy and Army. arf. ugh ugh. caveman. troll. hooah. bye.

[cbplus4]

Perfect response. Yay Hornetguy

[afa_mom]

West Point Responds:


As the Director of Communications at West Point, I feel compelled to respond. The cost to educate a student at a service academy is approximately the same as at any of the top tier universities, but the value is far greater than the cost.

Our diverse nation needs diverse higher education opportunities and the service academies provide a unique experience that strengthens our nation.

We provide not only 20% of the Army’s second lieutenants, but also 60% of the officers with hard science degrees—and our Army needs those skills. Furthermore, our cadets, faculty and staff are actively engaged in supporting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and West Point itself is a beacon of excellence that people around the country, indeed around the world, see as an example of all that is best in America: a truly national, egalitarian institution with a true belief in the values of duty, honor, country. I am not a graduate of West Point, but I don’t want to live in an America without a West Point.

Mr. Rick’s article has 6 specific arguments to address:

Point 1. “service academies [are] more than twice as expensive as taking in graduates of civilian schools ($300,000 per West Point product vs. $130,000 for ROTC student).”

Rebuttal 1. A more accurate figure for the 4 year experience here is $202,000, which is equivalent to the 4-year cost of graduating a student from any of the country’s top-tier universities . . . and those students generally take more than 4 years to graduate. And college and universities across the nation also receive funding from federal and state governments. An accurate cost comparison takes a lot more analysis than shown in this op-ed.

P2. “On top of the economic advantage, I've been told by some commanders that they prefer officers who come out of ROTC programs, because they tend to be better educated and less cynical about the military.”
R2. I can’t address this specifically, as this is his personal anecdotal evidence, but this has not been my experience in 29 years in the Army—and I was commissioned through Univ. of Mass. ROTC.

P3. “Too often they're getting community-college educations.”
R3. Nothing against the many fine Community Colleges, but in the past year alone, three national organizations have ranked West Point in the top 10 of all 4,000 colleges and universities in the nation:
• Forbes.com ranked West Point as the sixth best college or university in America as well as the most “surprising” pick—surprising even Mr. Ricks apparently . . . and West Point finished ahead of his alma mater, Yale
• U.S. News and World Report says West Point is the “Top Public Liberal Arts College” [the Naval Academy was second] and has the fifth-best “Undergraduate Engineering Program” in the nation.
• StateUniversity. com said West Point was the sixth best in the nation, behind only Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Cornell, and CalTech. (Again ahead of Mr. Rick’s Yale.)
Furthermore, in the past century West Pont graduates have been awarded more than 80 Rhodes Scholarships, 4th most in the nation behind only Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Just last year our Cadet First Captain Jason Crabtree was so honored.

P4. “most of West Point's faculty lacks doctorates.”
R4. All of our faculty have advanced degrees, but approximately 50% are rotating faculty, active duty officers who do not have a doctorate. However, I challenge Mr. Ricks to actually walk around campuses of America’s “elite” schools and see how many undergraduate classes are being taught by teaching assistants—smart, hardworking and dedicated, but usually without even a master’s degree. There are no teaching assistants at West Point and the largest class here has 18 students—the Dean has to approve any class with 19 or more students.

P5. [Send to ROTC and] “they also would be educated alongside future doctors, judges, teachers, executives, mayors and members of Congress.”
R5. West Point cadets ARE future doctors, judges, teachers, executives, mayors and members of congress. While their military successes are legendary, their impact on the civilian world is just as great.
Currently, Dave Heineman is Governor of Nebraska; Rhesa Barksdale is a U. S. judge; William Taylor, Jr. is Ambassador to Ukraine; Fletcher Lamkin is President of Westminster College; Daniel Kaufman is President of Georgia Gwinnett College; Marshall Carter is Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange; Marshall Larsen is Chairman and CEO of Goodrich; and Michael Krzyzewski is the Duke basketball coach. And 6 members of Congress either graduated from West Point or were on the faculty.

P6. “We should also consider closing the services' war colleges . . . Just ask David Petraeus, a Princeton PhD.”
R6. Mr. Ricks closing example is outrageous in an article with the headline “Why We Should Get Rid of West Point” as General Petraeus is both a graduate of West Point and a member of our what we call our second graduating class, having been an asst. professor here in the mid-1980s.

[AuzmansMOM]

To the Above post, with West Points Response, I Say :

[RoleoMom]

The New Ledger


In Defense of West Point: A Cadet Responds to Thomas Ricks

by Tianyi Xin

My fellow cadets at West Point, in moments of overwhelming stress and cynicism, often compare our “rockbound highland home” to prison. Like inmates, cadets are regularly deprived of a wide range of social freedoms that “normal college students” would see as constitutional rights—we are told when, what, and where to sleep, eat, and wear. Our campus is secured on all perimeters by gates and security guards and entry into and out of West Point is tightly regulated. Most of the time, West Point feels more like the Panopticon than it does Harvard Yard. Thomas E. Ricks of the Washington Post voiced the sentiments of many of my classmates (myself included) during periods of utter exhaustion and pessimism when he declared this weekend that “we should get rid of West Point.”


So why do my classmates and I still stand proudly in the Long Gray Line? Because we think it’s worth it.


West Point’s high standards of academic excellence are what initially attracted me and many of my classmates to apply. Though Mr. Ricks was correct in noting that most of West Point’s faculty lack doctorates, all of West Point’s teachers have earned advanced degrees. About half of our instructors are rotating active duty officers who bring more than just PhD’s to the classroom. Lessons about electromagnetic waves are interspersed with anecdotes from the battlefields of Iraq; my teachers bring to light the realities of war alongside abstract intellectual concepts. They are invested in us in ways that reach far beyond the report card; when we graduate with our heads full of knowledge that they have taught us, we walk into the larger fold of the Army that they are part of, and often serve on the same battlefields as lieutenants under their direct command.


Compared with the large, impersonal classes of many of undergraduate programs, West Point classes above 18 students require the Dean’s approval and cadets have the home phone numbers of most of our instructors, all of whom we are free to call for additional instruction. West Point has graduated 83 Rhodes Scholars, two American Presidents, and countless statesmen and scientists who have made great contributions to society past their active duty commitments. A century ago, Theodore Roosevelt declared that “no other educational institution in the land has contributed as many names as West Point has contributed to the honor roll of the nation’s greatest citizens” — and it is still true today.


I would challenge Mr. Ricks to sit in on one day of my classes here at West Point and walk away still convinced that my classmates and I are receiving a “community-college education.”


Mr. Ricks wants to dispose of West Point in order to trim the federal budget in response to the economic crisis. However, West Point is already downsizing; many of our academic departments and athletic programs have suffered significant cutbacks. Our Commandant recently announced future reductions in the size of the staff and faculty as well as the enrollment numbers here at West Point. But how much should we sacrifice? And will these cutbacks make America stronger, or weaker on the battlefield?


In these challenging times of conflict when the rules of warfare are constantly shifting, our Army needs officers equipped with the knowledge gained from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. West Point provides not only 20% of the Army’s 2nd Lieutenants, but also 60% of the officers with hard science degrees—degrees the Army desperately needs. The service academies alongside other commissioning sources—ROTC and OCS (Officer Candidate School from which Non-Commissioned Officers gain their commissions)—provide a diverse pool of problem solvers and decision makers to lead our Army.


Even more importantly, West Point has taught us the intangible things that refuse to fit neatly into statistical charts and balance sheets presented to Congress. Mr. Ricks cannot measure the value of the camaraderie gained by roughing through a 15-mile ruck march together one day and calculus homework the next; the sense of integrity engrained into our psyches through the Cadet Honor Code; and the ability to handle the rigors of day-to-day cadet life replete with academic, athletic, and military requirements. West Point immerses us in a demanding, high-stress military environment, and cadets internalize the values of perseverance, integrity, and selfless service among other principles so that they become almost second nature. No knock on ROTC, but West Point cadets don’t just attend military classes a few times a week and fall back into to regular civilian lives—we live and breathe military culture from Reveille to Taps (and often in the wee hours of the morning in between Taps and Reveille).


West Point and our sister academies represent far more than just service oriented undergraduate institutions. Our schools also serve important diplomatic functions that strengthen ties with foreign military forces. West Point hosts four year and semester long exchange programs for foreign cadets from Austria, Germany, Albania, Kenya, and many other countries. Last weekend, we hosted the 2009 Sandhurst Cup, a two-day military skills competition where West Point cadets competed against our foreign counterparts from Britain, Canada, Afghanistan and, for the first time, Chile.


In trying times like these when American blood is spilled on foreign soils in pursuit of lofty ideals such as democracy and freedom, we learn that some things simply don’t carry price tags. Though excess and wastefulness certainly aren’t the right answers, there are some things we should never surrender in the name of efficiency or cost-effectiveness. How is it that in a time when government is spending on programs, infrastructure, and bailouts at an ever-increasing rate, West Point is judged expendable?


West Point is a crucible that molds us into leaders of character. We cadets forfeit free time and sleep to endure pressures that most college students would never put up with because we know the payoff after graduation is something that can’t be calculated in dollars—a solid education that will prepare us to lead our nation’s sons and daughters into harm’s way. Douglas MacArthur once noted that “in war there is no substitute for victory.” In America there is no substitute for West Point.


Just ask the hero of Mr. Ricks’ most recent book — David Petraeus, class of 1974 West Point graduate.



Tianyi Xin is a cadet at West Point where she double majors in International Relations and Law. She will graduate in May 2011.


http://newledger.com/2009/04/in-defe...-thomas-ricks/

[afa_mom]

Thanks for posting this, roleomom.

God Bless all our Service Academy young men and women! They do our country proud.