Enlisted Essay Contest Second Place Winner, Sponsored by a Grant from Booz Allen Hamilton
In this era of blurred lines between enlisted and officer, it is time to unify the education of Sailors regardless of rank or grade. Toward this end, the U.S. Naval Academy must be the real Navy college for every Sailor. The precedent has been set. The examples are limited, but they are high profile. Enlisted personnel can succeed and excel in an academic environment previously reserved for officers. For example, the Naval War College counts among its alumni the current Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy. It is possible for enlisted personnel to take distance- learning courses in both the Naval Postgraduate School to earn a certificate and attend the Naval War College to earn credit toward a master's degree in national security studies.
A Premier Educational Institution
The Naval Academy at Annapolis can and should be the university of choice for every Sailor. For the academy's entire history it has been the premier commissioning source of naval officers and could now become the premier educational institution for thousands more Sailors. Doing so would provide Sailors with the opportunity to earn a degree that is meaningful and respected throughout the world. It would also allow Sailors to earn degrees in specific areas such as engineering, where opportunity to do so by way of the current Navy College Program is nearly non-existent.
While many might argue that the current system is working, a careful analysis shows problems. Many degrees offered through the Navy College Program are for general studies that lack a major. In fact, the main four-year degree offered through the Program for Afloat College Education (technology delivered) is a general studies degree offered through Governors State University. It has recently offered a master's of liberal studies in organizational leadership and while this is a step in the right direction, it is far too limited in what we should be offering the Sailors of the best Navy in the world.
Other degrees coordinated through the Navy College Program office include many listed on the Rating Roadmaps that can be obtained through a combination of life experience and credit by examination. The major players in these feel-good degrees are Excelsior and Thomas Edison State College, and their degree plans are quite common on the Rating Roadmaps of the Navy Knowledge On-Line Web site. The problem is that many colleges are now aware of how these programs operate; the students' transcripts only have grades of C or better and all lesser grades are dropped.
Graduate schools, in what appears to be a questioning attitude toward such degrees, are now requiring a transcript of all colleges attended to verify that the student can do graduate school-level work. While the term "degree mill" is not used, the very same terms that degree mills use figure prominently in their catalogue. Or perhaps it is the other way around. Either way, these degrees do not have the same level of recognition that those offered by more conventional colleges and universities possess.
If the Naval Academy were to implement the use of distance learning with the use of Internet courses, videotapes, and DVD/CD-ROM in conjunction with the same texts used at the Academy, a student could earn college credit through the Naval Academy and in time could earn a degree. Degree options other than a four-year bachelor's degree should also be considered. While the Naval Academy does not currently offer a two-year associate's degree it would be easy to implement. Some may look askance at such an idea, but considering that the most prestigious university in America offers an associate's degree for its students, is it really too far outside the box to consider having the Naval Academy do the same? Harvard University saw a need to make such an offering, and to have the Naval Academy make the same offering to Sailors would not diminish the Academy but rather it would strengthen Sailors throughout the Fleet, thus strengthening the Navy.
The Challenges
The next step would be to identify those four-year degrees that could be completed by distance learning or a combination of distance learning in conjunction with local college offerings and/or weekend sessions at either Annapolis or major Fleet concentration units to accomplish necessary lab work. Testing and final exams could easily be done by unit training officers. If students had questions that couldn't be answered through e-mail, the many college graduates in the wardroom and some in the Chiefs' Mess could lend assistance.
What are the challenges to such a sea change? The load on the academic professors is the first consideration. The current students at the Naval Academy must not have their educational experience compromised or else the goal of improving educational opportunity for all Sailors has not been accomplished. The second is academic teaching load of a professor. Some may be willing to take on additional teaching load in exchange for compensation and others may not. In addition, the Naval Academy may not have the budget to hire additional academic staff or compensate them for their time spent teaching students through distance education.
While a larger budget is its own issue, the compensation of the staff for the additional teaching load of distance students can easily come from the tuition assistance that is allocated to a Sailor. With a current cap of $250 per semester hour, the Naval Academy could bill the Naval Education and Training Command for the tuition and in turn pay instructors for each student they teach a reasonable amount less administrative fees at the Academy. Another option is the use of retired Naval Academy professors who would like to augment their income in retirement.
Selecting the Best
How would we select the Sailors who could attend the Naval Academy through a distance program? Some type of screening would be required as there would likely be far more desiring to attend than there would be positions available. Test scores, previous academic grades, warfare qualifications, and command recommendation could be used. Perhaps it should be open to those who have proven their commitment to the Navy for at least one enlistment. The means used should have an element of fairness to them along with a mechanism that allows those who prove their academic prowess outside the Naval Academy to have an opportunity to attend regardless of past test scores.
Should such a program come to fruition, what should be done with the first graduates? Let the Sailors decide! Some may pursue the commission; others may decide that their path is in the enlisted ranks with eventual assignment as a senior enlisted leader. In either case, these Sailors will likely pursue even higher education, and these more educated Sailors will benefit the Navy.
Education has long been viewed as a great equalizer, but it has also been the source of a great divide. In today's Navy we recruit into the enlisted ranks some very intelligent Sailors who saw the Navy as an opportunity. Opening this educational opportunity will further the advancement of all Sailors. In the past, many believed that what separated officers from enlisted was an education. In reality what separated them, beyond the perceived social strata, was nothing more than a commission from the President of the United States. With that commission comes great responsibility. It should be the commission that separates officers from enlisted and not the potential source of their education.
The precedent is set with enlisted participation at the Naval War College and at the Naval Postgraduate School. Distance learning is a proven model in even the most mainstream educational institutions. The desire and ability of enlisted personnel to excel in the academic environment is well documented. All that remains is for the old guard to release its long-held and institutionalized belief that the Naval Academy is for the commissioning of future naval officers.
Change is always difficult and is even more so for those who cling to the past and use one excuse after another to resist moving forward. But education is the door that opens us to change because it opens our mind to new ways of seeing things. The educated person has the potential to initiate change in ways we cannot imagine, and having more educated Sailors can lead us to accomplish things that will make our Navy and our nation stronger. It increases the potential for change; inhibiting educational accomplishment has the opposite effect. The future demands change and we cannot stop the future from arriving. When it gets here, we better be ready. The decisions we make today will determine that future.
Command Master Chief Butler enjoyed five Command Master Chief tours and has earned multiple degrees, including an MS from California State University. He was a 2006 Presidential Management Fellow finalist before retirement. He resides in the Boston metropolitan area and works for Advanced Energy Systems.