Thick Soldiers

[Tab]

In todays Sunday Telegraph was the following report. Half todays soldiers only have a reading ability of a eleven year old and one fifth of all soldiers only have the literacy and numeracy levels of a seven year old.
The problems now arises that who will operate the new smart weapons, there is talk of making the entrance exams into the Army higher and retesting many of the soldiers in the Army to see what sort of future that they may have if any.

[rambo]

I think if they do this then the army will be cut in half to what its numbers are today. Im not saying there all dumb, im not going to point any out but you know who you are.

[El Prez]

This is a link to the report mentioned above. Please take time to read it, and especially the piece that was handwritten. Then refer to my posts 'Maintaining Standards' and 'Please read before posting'. This is NOT a piss take, but a serious problem.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... uestid=409

[Worthers Original]

I have to say that I'm not suprised about the results of the study. I would say that it is a little unfair as there are probably quite a few civilian trades that would probably score just as badly (footballers aren't known for their........lack of smarts, without good reason). What this should of course mean is that the Government should put aside money to add to the Defence budget to invest in those currently serving and those who will serve in the future. Fat chance of that. The inclusion of academic tutoring might actually be a positive recruiting incentive. There are free "basic skills" classes available in civvie street so maybe they will think of including an active programme in the Forces.

[Sticky Blue]

Please take time to read it, and especially the piece that was handwritten.

I tried to read it, but gave up because I couldn't read nor understand it.

[Tab]

In the RAF and Navy they have grades of service personel on the technical side that get extra pay with out the rank. May be if the soldiers were better rewarded for taking, courses and passing them it may just help.

[GARRYOWEN]

Soldiers are no better or worse than their civillian counterparts... the education standards have fallen through the years. The army was seen as a refuge for those who had faired badly from the education system. To join the army you did not need qualifications as such thats why those who did not have any accademic qualifications would have joined the army, it was seen as good job and one for life.

[got1]

There used to be a system that was in grades ie, 1 to 6.
As far as I remember 1 was someone who had A & O Levels, and were exempt from any further tests, 2 was O L evel type education, 3 was your average educated bloke and 4 was below average but was acceptable.
I was dealing with recruits at the time and after seeing what a 4 was like,[I will not mention the regiments 5 & 6 could join] I felt sorry for them.
My memory is hopeless, but it went something like that.

ps. I have just watched my granddaughter type a message on the commputer with one hand , send a text message on the phone with the other, and watch the tele at the same time, but her spelling is crap.
I'm puzzled.

[anglo-saxon]

In the past, as I recall, people who were too daft to get into the infantry ended up in the Pioneer Corps.

[Worthers Original]

ps. I have just watched my granddaughter type a message on the commputer with one hand , send a text message on the phone with the other, and watch the tele at the same time, but her spelling is crap.
I'm puzzled.

That's like my older brother. He was never very academic at school but he is a self-taught genius when it comes to anything technological. Anything he doesn't know about computers he can teach himself through trial and error. He's crap at spelling and not very good at anything above basic maths but open up a box of electric gizmos, he'll take it apart, tell you how it works, and put it back together again. He would most likely score poorly if tested for basic numeracy and literacy.

[jlitt]

I sometimes think there should be a distinction between gained wisdom (book learning), raw IQ and practical knowledge. All are different and people posses them to certain levels and someone can excel in one area and be awful in another. Within a team there is space for everyone with varying degrees of aptitude in one area or another there should be a more varied approach to selection taking into account the different fields of "intelligence".
Myself yes I'm an avid reader; my general Knowledge is second to none.
The results of my recent RCB brief showed that I had a far greater raw IQ than my educational record showed (this as an engineer was mainly a problem with doing calculus and stat's offhand; without notes I can't do it!)
But on the practical aspect I could build you a house/car/bike act. Without a problem; as a young child I could take something apart and rebuild it as new, and truly "know" how it worked!
Not wishing to blow my own trumpet ( nor wishing to have the necessary ribs removed) I would say I'm very intelligent in one way or another and I’m well rounded in my intelligence.
But I’d also like to add that many people in the general population are patently stupid.
Anyone who has worked within the general retail or service sector would agree. (Today for instance JLitt: So do you want a freeview box. Customer: yes, JL: Have you checked your area for coverage? C: yes!, JLitt: Can you get it? C:No! But I used to have Sky! JLitt; Sorry Sky is a satellite based transmission, while freeview is a standard terrestrial based transmission if you can’t receive this you can’t get it! C:[BLANK FACE] JLitt; (Thinks {Stupid timewasting bitch} and walks away))
This is one instance upon many many many more I’m I just a arrogant haughty bast*rd or is the general populace stupid? If so then a certain number of the general populace is dumb therefore then a certain amount of soldiers will also be?
STOP PRESS; In the Inde’ today a certain amount of the populace thought that Conan the barbarian was a real historical figure and that the cold war was made up!?!
Every one (well most) of the people who post on this site seem to be highly intelligent people (well I think the rest of the populace can’t understand the strange symbols {called letters and numbers} in front of them.). So any answer will be highly intelligent and literate!
Thank god I’m only doing this bloody job for another week!

[gash-hand]

Well after reading the telegraph article I can't say it surprises me, from what i remember to be a soldier you never had to be the sharpest tool in the box. Also the article keeps banging on about the next generation of battlefield weapons, all this from a country that has completely failed to introduce a secure VHF radio system that can be brought off the shelf from Racal direct (South Africa has been using a virtual Bowman system for almost 10 years).

I can't really see the level of litracy being a problem with new technology, the development team will just make it more automated and less open to individual customisation - in restricting its functionality it'll be easier to teach and more user friendly.

Also, lets face it, any Army 'next generation' system is going to be at least 10 years out of date compared with current technology anyway - it always is.

I'm afraid if this country really wants true next generation systems then the level of academic acheivement of it's recruits is the least of its problems.

[wannabe_bootneck]

It's absolute drivvel to say education standards have fallen in recent times, you simply sound like an ignorant old sod,remembering the good old days. It is a fact that educational attainment is increasing, it really annoys me when people slate the education system as someone currently in the centre of it I am passionate about the argument. We currently have the most diverse education system we've ever had with the most choice and greatest equal opportunities ever also, O-Levels & the whole grammar school era was a bad time. I have always argued to people that brains don't automatically make a good soldier, especially to those who try & persuade me to go officer as I will be surrounded by 'thickos' in the rank & file. which annoys me becuase I wouldn't give 10 lawyers for a single soldier.

[Sticky Blue]

Really?

It's absolute drivvel to say education standards have fallen in recent times.

You should sit where I sit and say that! I see what supposedly intelligent recruits are writing; recruits yes, intelligent no! I am no schollar but I could write better than them when I was 12 years old. I have recently done a GCSE in English and got an A* and to be honest, it wasn't that tough. I work with guys who have done other GCSEs (History, Geography etc) and they are of the same opinion.

[wannabe_bootneck]

May be true, but the old ed. system screwed a lot of people over majorly, I nkow this as fact as I have studied this topic fairly recently, inf act, there's so much more to education than face value!