70 percent of young people are unable to enlist
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Readying kids for service
Mission: Readiness brought eight retired generals and admirals to Richmond to speak about why 75 percent of young people aren't qualified for military service. More pre-kindergarten is the solution,...
Not ready to serve. With three of ten potential recruits unfit for the military because of a criminal record, lack of fitness or poor education, a group of retired generals and admirals say more help is needed for at-risk youngsters.
Money spent on early-childhood education today can help protect America's national security tomorrow, former military leaders said yesterday at a news conference in Richmond.
About 70 percent of the nation's military-age young people cannot enlist in the armed forces because of inadequate education, criminal records or physical problems.
"We estimate that only about three out of 10 American youth between the ages of 17 and 24 are fully qualified for military service," said Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Ky.
But a Washington-based group of retired military leaders called Mission: Readiness -- Military Leaders for Kids said that providing more at-risk children with early education would increase high school graduation rates, reduce crime and improve physical fitness among young people.
"The younger they start with education, the better they will be in the future," said retired Army Brig. Gen. Clara L. Adams-Ender of Lake Ridge.
And, Mission: Readiness said, that would increase the number of people who could qualify to volunteer for the armed services.
Nearly 30 percent of Virginia high school students fail to graduate on time or drop out entirely, said the nonprofit group, which is funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
"We cannot allow today's dropout crisis to become a national security crisis," said retired Air Force Gen. Richard E. Hawley of Newport News.
The eight retired officers -- seven generals and one admiral -- were joined by Republican Attorney General Bill Mims, state Sen. Harry B. Blevins, R-Chesapeake, and Del. Mamye E. BaCote, D-Newport News, at the General Assembly Building.
"Dollars spent on early-childhood education are a force multiplier," Mims said.
Mission: Readiness backed "full funding" for the Virginia Preschool Initiative, which could cost an estimated $30 million to $35 million a year, said Amy Dawson Taggart, the group's national director.
"I don't know where the money's coming from right now," said BaCote, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, "but we'll find it if we can."
The preschool program reaches about 15,500 at-risk 4-year-olds, said John Morgan, executive director of Voices for Virginia's Children, a research and advocacy organization in Richmond.
With such increased public support, said retired Army Brig. Gen. Terry J. Tyler of Williamsburg, "at-risk children are not really destined to be left behind at the starting gate."
According to a 2007 study by Virginia's Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, "The weight of the evidence from key studies of quality preschool programs serving at-risk children indicates these programs can produce long-term positive effects on IQ scores, student achievement test scores, grade repetition, special-education placement, high school graduation and delinquency."
Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or
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Reader Reactions
even worse… 98% of military casualties continue to be male even though we supposedly live in the age of sexual equality.
Dear yellowhound
Your post was very interesting; because you shared your past experiences in the government schools. I must admit I am out of the loop about children in schools and their behavior. I was in elementary school when they took out phonics out of Black Schools, the WHITE LIBERALS started with us first. I believe this was the beginning of the fall of public education for Black Children. I was there when it was done, and my teaching begged us to inform our parents what was being done in the Black Schools first. When my teacher continued to try and teach us Phonics, the Black Principle pulled her out the class to have a private talk with her in the hallway. I was there when they took Prayer out of school; I was in junior High School. This was the second nail in the coffin for public education. We are reaping the fruits of these actions in public education. Yellowhound, you are seeing and dealing with what should have been taught in the homes of these children. The Great Society destroyed the Black Family, children having children, 80 percent of Black children are being born to single females. We as a Nation have to repent, return to godly family instruction and traditional system of education that worked in our nation’s public schools before the progressives ruined them. I had my children in private/Christian schools and then home school them. We are spending money on a process that is nothing more that indoctrination into the world system or world citizenships.
For the record, I support early childhood education. Yellowhound & redskyatnight, I appreciate and applaud your insight regarding this topic. I initially addressed the issue of parental involvement because it is relevant to the issues which prevent 70% of young people from being eligible to enlist.
Many of the children who would benefit from an expanded early education program are in an at-risk situation or from low-income households. Well, what defines at-risk? The assumption is that they are at risk because of a lack of parental involvement or parental inability (due to finances) to provide the necessary educational foundation. Either the parent simply does not take the time to read to the child, or the parent is unable to read due to literacy issues, or the parent cannot afford reading materials. Whatever the case or situation, the parent is at the root of the issue.
Even if parents are unable to afford daycare, if they can read they can introduce their child to the learning process from birth. Again, I support early childhood education but I emplore our communities to also look to the root of the issue for additional means to eradicate the problem.
I think you will enjoy this link…. once you go to it… click on
“The Government Can”
Forward it to your friends….
I’m a bit miffed that the GA members only take notice of the issues with early childhood education when told we don’t have enough qualified kids to defend our country and are now pledging to find the money, somewhere.
My husband and I worked our butts off and made many sacrifices to ensure that our children grew into well educated, physically fit, moral young men. Finding out that only 30% fall into that category only increases my anger at parents who sit back, make excuses for themselves and their kids and don’t parent. Frankly I’m sick of it.
92 posts into this thread and we’re still on-topic, and civil to boot. My congratulations to everyone responsible!
qh: I think a couple of things are at hand.
One, Head Start has been around for a long time, but has not been implemented widely, less than a million kids nationally per year. That’s far less than 30% (I couldn’t immediately find the figures for privately funded preschool).
I do know that it costs a lot to send your kid to private preschool, though. For a number of parents I know, the financial benefit of having both spouses work while paying for day care is marginal, but unfortunately necessary (basically working to pay for day care plus an extra few hundred per month). I suspect the benefits to parents with children would outweigh the tax dividends paid by them over time.
In the areas where it is implemented, though, there are often socioeconomic conditions in or around the average home which must be compensated for at school. Yes, it sometimes means working against a number of other factors that the child is dealing with outside of the school setting. Sometimes it is an uphill struggle, especially when the parents are not invested.
You can’t really compare the statistic quoted in today’s headline to the outcomes of Head Start programs, though. Given the relatively small number of children who receive Head Start and the wide sample referred to in the above article, it’s hard to say if Head Start would have made a difference in the numbers even if all the kids went on to become Ivy League scholars. As well, that 70% includes those with physical disabilities and criminal records, which is hardly reflection on the efficacy of Head Start.
However, longitudinal studies done on kids who have received Head Start have shown better overall performance in school than that of peers who did not attend any preschool.
The real answer lies in better, earlier intervention… preferably from both home AND school. That’s going to take more than can be legislated. It’s going to take a generation of parents stepping up and taking more responsibility for their own children’s education. Either way, I stand by my position that money spent on early childhood education will pay dividends in the future.
12step.. I 100% agree that education is important. My question is that we already have programs that put kids into headstart etc…. So is it not sticking? I would think that more than 30% of kids either have access to preK or preschool or headstart.. so why are they trying to say that 70% can’t hack it? I am NOT blaming the educators.. I am just wondering if it is enough to overcome the poor upbringing or unhealthy outside influences.
Yellowhound, Thank you for bringing those posts back to light.
As much as people like to poke fun at the idea of sending a 3 or 4 year old to school and decry it as a waste of taxpayer dollars, early childhood education is often helping to compensate for what, sadly, is not happening at home. One of the strongest predictors of future attitudes towards reading is exposure to print and reading in early childhood.
When I was teaching reading here in the city, I had kids who never had a book until they came to school. Their parents never read to them when they were young. Consequently, they were the ones in the need of intensive help and before and after school tutoring, if only to get them up to grade level.
Getting kids involved in learning as their minds are undergoing the most crucial stages of development prepares them psychologically and even physiologically for future learning. Money spent on early childhood education saves money down the road, believe it.
Posted by ( MrCobray ) on September 02, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Jack… thank you for imforming me, and I feel you and your wife are an exception.
Au contraire, mon ami. There are hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of us.
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