4 Responses to “Elsewhere on the Blogosphere”

1. A Passerby responded on 15 Jun 2008 at 12:38 am #

   Because, as we all know, everyone wanting to apply somewhere must mean its a good thing. Or is it rather, that the military academies that the USPSA models itself after are legitimate experience because they are hard and challenging, and if you remove that part, and maintain the same incentives, no one in their right mind wouldn’t apply. The academies are ‘rewarding’, but only to those with an enlightened understanding of the word- because it is rewarding insofar as it was hard and self-sacrificing.

   USPSA is a handout. You pay for your education by volunteering on the weekends, during the summer, and with 5 years in a job that is guaranteed to be ‘rewarding, productive, and engaging’ (not necessarily in the enlightened sense, either).

   Who actively looks for a job that is anything but these things? It’s no surprise everyone in the world wants to go there- congratulations, you’ve created the dream college- a school that guarantees you a good job when you get out, and is absolutely free.

   Thus far, the academies have been justified as a crucible for character and leadership (as difficulty is the means by which these traits develop). The incentives are necessary, and, by the way, you need a college education to be an officer. Show me there are bachelor’s degree level jobs in the government that no one is taking, especially in a job market such as this, because these stats just don’t pass the common sense test.

   If the government so desperately needs employees, add incentives to those jobs. There’s a solution.

   Or, up the ante. Make an academy that is rigorous. Volunteering may be hard, and is definitely necessary, but I fail to see, as least from the blueprint, how it is anything harder than, say, a job. A job like a student would need to help pay for a regular college anyway. Volunteering is self-sacrifice when its in lieu of something else. Here, it takes the place of all the ’something elses’ that would necessarily arise at a typical college.

   The issue here is that USPSA has modeled itself after the military academies- minus the military part. But its that element of the academy, that threshold of self-sacrifice, that puts character and commitment to the test. Be wary of the world rushing to your front steps, so eager to apply, because a character building experience is almost always trying, and that’s something the world at large is seldom eager to undertake.

2. Justine Hebron responded on 16 Jun 2008 at 3:20 pm #

   The “world at large” needs highly trained civilian leaders that the Academy will provide. The stats in the poll point to the desire that collegians have to serve, but cannot find a long-term outlet for it. So yes, it is a “good thing” that so many want to apply.

   I agree that character building is a trying experience as any parent, teacher, or drill sargeant will tell you. Don’t we want more and not less of that? I think so.

3. Marsupial responded on 16 Jun 2008 at 6:58 pm #

   The stats don’t say that collegians want to serve, but don’t have an outlet. The stats say that nearly 60% of college age kids would apply to the US PSA. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything- especially anything good.

   Do you not see how those stats indicate that the deal is simply too good, from a strictly cost v. benefit analysis? I am not doing anyone a service by accepting a handout.

   Besides, “highly trained civilian leaders” is what every college in the United States aims to create. The US PSA is the free option with a job guarantee afterward. There are no special skills that a leader in a government office would need vice a corporate office.

   With the military however, that crossover is not so seamless. So when the free-market sculpted the education giants Harvard and Yale, institutions that mold the most successful civilian leaders in the United States, they are doing it to the capacity that the PSA would be hard pressed to match- at least from a ‘highly trained’ (in the civilian sense of the word) perspective. You don’t need a separate institution for that.

   Easy solution- use the billions you’d put toward this school into better paying these government positions. Or accept the fact that if a state and local governments aren’t pressured to pay teachers well because our society values them less than other things, so be it. Your war is on a different front.

   Nevermind that 1,250 PSA graduates a year doesn’t even break the surface of a government that employs literally millions.

4. Mark22 responded on 22 Oct 2009 at 1:33 pm #

   This still took me way too long. ,

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