IMHO. If our public education system focused on reading, writing, and arithmetic (or calculus) instead of genitalia, gender, and diversity, a situation like this would not have occurred. But what do I know. When I was a kid in the 70’s we were taught to write cursive - that is script. I don’t think the Gen-Xr’s of today know what the term means. Sad.
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Maybe if all the teachers and the class said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning like I did, we would have a military fully manned.
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More CRT, more talk about oppressors, more Christophobia, more condemnation of America, higher pedestals for people of certain sexual proclivities. I think it is military leadership, not the recruits, who cannot put two and two together.
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I remember spending a lot of time learning cursive in school. But except for the rare check (which I do the amount in cursive out of ancient habit) and my signature I haven’t used cursive in decades. My understanding is that it was originally invented for use with quill pens to keep the ink from skipping and spotting. Can’t remember the last time I used a quill pen. With modern pens and pencils you can write just as quickly and usually more clearly without using cursive.
Unless you are a historian reading original versions of old documents I don’t see much use in it any more. Seems far better to spend time learning to type efficiently since that is the current primary form of communication and used every day by most folks for work and personal life. My typing skills are annoyingly subpar. Wish I had spent more time learning to type in school then learning to make swoopy letters.
I also don’t remember using a slide rule since about the fourth or fifth grade many decades ago. After that they let us use calculators for all the exams in school. It occasionally comes in handy to be able to do simple math in my head but I can get the job done much more quickly and efficiently for anything more complicated than 12x12 with the calculator on my phone.
The times they are a changin.
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I think this country has lost it’s FOCUS!
I believe that what we now Indoctrinate (instead of teach) is what may ruin us.
For 37% of 'young adults to openly say it is alright with them if .gov puts cameras
in their parents homes. Is a disgrace. I am more and more sounding like a Parent every day.
If you lower your standards don’t complain about the quality of soldier you have to train.
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Agree. I honestly don’t want my kids wasting (yes, wasting) their time learning cursive. It offers zero use IMO. I haven’t written more than my signature (which is not even legible lol) in cursive in, well, probably also decades.
What’s the point?
And I like calculators. Being able to do math the long way is valuable up to a point. Do the time memorization multiplication tables like we used (addition, subtraction, mult, division) like up to 12x12 takes what 4 minutes by memory to pass doing the sheet…do some “show your work” maths in school but, practical application in the real world, we have calculators available. Literally on my watch I have a calculator. And in my pocket, And on any computer or electronic device.
Focus on knowing what to put into the calculator and why
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On the bright side, through “equity,” the military’s white soldiers are now capable of hating white soldiers for being white. General Mark Millie and Secretary Lloyd Austin: Job well done!
You’re making the US military stupid.
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To my thinking, the only problem with letting them use calculators is that when they test they will have a functioning device they understand. When they get to the field, said person will be required to use the authorized military one costing triple the amount and only functions half the time. Remember the $800 toilet seats on Air Force planes back in the 80s?
PS when I took the ASVAB, the only math was simple a person should be able to do in their head, ie 2+3, 4/2, 20-10, 17+13, 5x8……
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Indeed. I mostly agree with your thoughts and you’re right, the only reason I use script is to sign my personal checks which I still use to pay the utilities. Can’t remember my typing class only that I passed doing 50 wpm. Those were the days my friend. We thought they’d never end.
The point I was trying to make is that these rudimentary skills taught discipline, efficiency and brevity. Skills which I believe are sorely lacking among today’s Gen X’rs. By no means do I mean ALL Gen X’rs as I have met many who are brighter than any light bulb in my day. Yet our education system seems to dwell more on emotions instead of mentally challenging skills. When my nephew who is in high school blurted out that we all live in a society of systemic racism, I honestly thought he was joking. I was wrong. Fortunately (and to my relief) he was partially joking. When the curriculum of an institution is more concerned with genital surgery on children than with teaching the A-B-C’s, I draw the line and I believe the military should too.
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Uh… what’s 5x8? Bwahahahahahaha… 
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I don’t know, I need a calculator.
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I know what a 2x4 and a 4x4 are, and their actual measurements aren’t 2x4 and 4x4… so that would make 5x8 ~ 32.6. 
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Mastering the four arithmetic functions of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division plus their use with fractions is not about making a human being into a calculator. It is implanting the fundamental rules of deductive logic into the human brain. Anyone who cannot successfully perform these basic arithmetic tasks also cannot successfully reason logically. Therefore, by allowing calculators to be used during this test is equivalent to saying, “We will enlist idiots.”
I do not accept conspiracy theories. Yet, this obvious and deliberate dumbing down of America, often under the banner of racial equity, deeply worries me. American has often won past military victories because our soldiers could think for themselves and act in small units on their own without direct orders from above far better than our enemies. If I wanted to defeat America militarily and over a perspective spanning half a century, I could devise no better plan than to destroy the ability of individual average Americans to think for themselves. Certainly, eliminating their ability to use deductive logic would be a major accomplishment on the road to achieving precisely that.
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Ma’am can I buy you a beer? Preferably a Modelo?
We need the Draft. Back in 1965, I dropped out of college and enlisted in the Marine Corps, went to 'Nam as an 0331 with Echo/2/4. Fun times!! Semper Fi!!!
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Thank you. If you live in Houston, Texas, I’ll take that beer. However, I have to warn you: during my 81 years my first name moved from male to female, but I REFUSE to modify my hairy body to conform!
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If you need a calculator for the ASVAB, you should not be around firearms or heavy machinery. Just sayin
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Have you checked the state of our education system recently? Can’t blame it all on the education system, the children attending school need to take an interest in learning as well.
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I AM proud to be OLD SCHOOL !
I used my fingers to count! (still do!)
Simple, basic, Never needs batteries
and they can’t get stolen…
well, today they can but that’s just sik!
(and another fantastic topic! 
)
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One of my uncles was a butcher many decades ago and could only count to about 8 1/3 on his fingers.
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