Why not use career veterans for teachers ?

reply to post by Sphota


I sensed from your response you have given the idea of vets serving as teachers some thought. I'd like to give you something else to consider, that you may perhaps not be aware of. Many of these vets are college educated in local universities as well as being taught within the military. Many of these vets take their GIBil, get out and go to local colleges as well. So they are not just taught in the military using drill style methods alone.

While I do agree the OP sounds a bit misty nostalgic, you do as well...."here is my rifle, here is my gun" is much more Hollywood than the real world of the military. The current armed forces is not Vietnam era Hollywood, and as for turn around time, the military is and has been a state of rapid change since 9/11 and it seems that many civilians have not "got up to speed" on just how much the current military demands from its service people, it is much more than drills. Most soldiers not do not advance within their career without some form of higher education.

And not every soldier is a infantryman. Most soldiers are trained to do other jobs, jobs which require teaching and learning, the initial courses are AIT, and depending on which career field you go into they may take a few months or over a year. That is classroom time, spent learning. That is just the beginning, soldiers are required to continue taking refresher courses and leadership courses throught their career. And these are enlisted people I am referring to, as a rule, officers have to come in already with 4 years of college and a BA under their belts before they even begin their military course work.

In other words, the days of soldiers learning by drills alone are far gone. People wonder where their tax dollars have gone? A lot of it has been spent getting our nations military into the 21st century and a huge factor in that has been education. My husband joined in 93, and the changes he has seen have been dramatic. Soldiers who can't keep up with the education requirements end up getting looked over for promotion until they hit their retention point and are thrown out.

So your concerns about military style drill learning techniques being used in schools is not something that would really concern me. And off topic but case in point....I myself learn best using drill and memorization, so I don't think that incorporating that style of learning would be harmful even if it did happen. I learned most of my German by memory and repetition, and then once I had a strong basis of vocabulary, and hearing words constantly being repeated to me, I was much more able to communicate effectively. So, maybe it's time we got back to some basics in education? I think using various methods of teaching is required, and sometimes memorization has its place as well.