“They [high school seniors] who may not be able to graduate] could enlist, go to basic training…come back and boom graduation requirement is done.” – Army Recruiter
Leave it to the U.S. military where bad-terrible-horrible ideas take on a life of their own. Much like cancer, they disappear, sometimes for decades, only to re-emerge, more poisonous than ever. Recruiting enough warm bodies to satisfy the requirements of America’s global perpetual war machine is a good example. As has happened on at least two other occasions [SEE Project 100,000: One-Way Ticket to Death] when recruitment failed to keep up with demand, the Pentagon dusted off an old playbook to come up with the 21st century version of the recruitment shell game. In cahoots with officials in various states the Pentagon offers unqualified (according to the military’s own guidelines) high school students the opportunity to graduate high school in exchange for military enlistment. The basic idea is simple. Having trouble passing the standardized tests which many states require for graduation (after loads of lobbying from America’s premier test creator Pearson with annual revenues of $8 billion+), the military has a deal for you. Enlist and as one recruiter [see above] put it — “Boom! Problem solved.”
In a growing number of states and in Chicago, the third largest school system in the U.S., the military’s inability to meet their annual recruiting goals using their traditional criteria —high school diploma or GED and a high pass on the military’s own entrance exam — has resulted in a growing military lobbying effort aimed at persuading state and education officials to exempt low-performing high school juniors and seniors, many of them Black and Hispanic, from state mandated academic requirements and offer them a military solution —enlist and graduate from high school in one fell swoop. Chicago has become the face of this enlistment cum degree scheme particularly among students of color. 
With a raft of post-graduation requirements that many students have difficulty meeting, the military option has become the only choice. The general outlines of the Pentagon’s recruitment strategy among high schoolers doesn’t vary much from state to state —academic requirements for high school graduation are replaced by scaled-down military competency tests (passing grade equal to an 8th grade mastery of English and math) accompanied by enlistment. Three states are going whole hog toward making high school an introduction to and preparation for a military stint.
In 2016, the Oregon National Guard’s Credit Proficiency Program was endorsed by the Oregon Department of Education. It allows students in all of Oregon’s public high schools to get course credits toward graduation for military service. Make no mistake about it, what’s good for Oregon students is doubly good for Oregon’s reputation, cutting the state’s drop-out rate while increasing its graduation rate presently a dismal 74.8%, third lowest in the U.S. Here’s Oregon’s Deputy Superintendent, Salam Noor spinning the benefits of the program: “The Oregon Plan offers educators another resource…to help all young Oregonians meet graduation requirements…from the life skills and training…in the Oregon National Guard. Deputy Superintendent Noor doesn’t mention the long-term effect on both students and academic standards of making military service an academic credit.
In New Jersey, students who opt out of the PARCC standardized test, required for graduation, will have another option—get a “passing” grade (requiring an 8th grade mastery of English and math) on the military exam, ASVAB (Armed 
Services Vocational Aptitude Battery). To make sure desperate students without the credits to graduate and their parents get a bird’s eye view of this “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity, the state holds a “Military Opportunity Day” every year sponsored by state’s education ‘leaders,’ including the heads of the school board association, school administrators’ association, teachers’ union, the statewide PTA and the rest of what passes for associations of education professionals. In its endorsement, these delusional ladies and gentlemen decried the “widespread misconception about military service.” Testifying to the ease with which the military hoodwinked New Jersey’s politicos, in April, 2015, the Army Recruiter Journal noted that the ASVAB “would be accepted as a substitute competency test for students who fail to pass the PARCC.”
Texas has added a new wrinkle to the military’s take-over of the future of a substantial number of American high schoolers. In a scheme cooked up by the Dallas recruiting commander and sold to the Texas Legislature, by statute the ASVAB has been officially named
as an alternative aptitude test. In the near future, virtually all high school students in Texas will be required to take the ASVAB. Worse still, the statute allows individual student scores, together with student social security numbers to be sent to the Pentagon for stepped-up recruitment.
Granted, the military has a big problem when it comes to filling the ranks. In 2016, it was estimated that 71% of 17-24-year-olds would not be able to pass the traditional criteria for enlistment. The reasons are a reflection of deep-seated social problems falling heaviest on young people. One-third are overweight, 10% have a criminal record, a head-turning 30% have a history of drug use, and the balance cannot pass the qualifying exam. An even more sobering statistic —among high school grads who apply, nearly a quarter (23%) fail the enlistment test. Couple that with the military’s woeful recruitment record —only 1% of young people both “eligible and inclined” to enlist actually wind up in the military —and it’s understandable that some Pentagon officials would dig deep into institutional memory to come up with a road-tested solution.
The problem is that this solution or non-solution satisfies neither the requirements of a professional fighting force (which is what the U.S. military has become) nor enhances the future of the young people who become its victims. Far from the days when service in the military was considered a duty of citizenship (for men), today’s professional ‘volunteer’ army tends to attract young people who are out of options. For a country that sees little else but perpetual war in its foreign policy future, the drought of high quality recruits ought to make the generals and admirals sit up and take notice. As far back as 
2005, a Rand Corporation report concluded: “ [a force] made up of personnel with high AFQT [military aptitude test] score contributes to a more effective and accurate team performance.” As in almost every vocation, success in the military is directly proportional to the educational attainment of its members. High school graduates generally have more satisfying military careers, rise up the ranks, complete their enlistment, and leave the military with skills that are transferrable to a civilian marketplace. Today that’s not happening and at least some in the military are concerned “…the pool from which we draw our recruits is shrinking” (Curtis Gilroy, head of recruitment, active duty forces)
Perhaps we should stop kidding ourselves and recognize that a nation that pours 54% of its financial resources into growing the military making the U.S. the biggest military spender among the next seven highest spending countries combined, is probably going to stub its toe when it comes to recruiting qualified candidates. Particularly in light of the necessity of funding the bloated military budget by starving other initiatives. President Trump’s first budget is a prime example. It calls for a 13.5% cut in the Department of Education budget, a whopping $9.2 billion. When education become expendable, illiteracy becomes wide-spread. In the same way, when money for social programs winds up on the chopping block, problems like crime, drug use and obesity proliferate. The military becomes a reflection of social disarray. Consider: In 2004, 92% of military recruits had high school degrees. In 2013, only 66% do.
Young people so poorly educated they are unlikely to make it even in the highly-regimented military of today have even less of a chance of successfully overcoming the challenges of a more open civilian society. The military hocus-pocus that lowers graduation standards to satisfy recruiting goals has no up-side. A poorly educated army like a poorly educated society is a disaster waiting to happen. Unless it already has.
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