Military Transition Then and Now By Michael Heberling, Ph.D. President, CCME While 2013 marked the 40th anniversary of CCME, 2014 marks an even more important anniversary for the entire VolEd community. Seventy years ago, Congress passed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the GI Bill. The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act was unanimously passed in Congress, first in the Senate on June 12th and then in the House on June 13th. President Roosevelt signed the bill into law on June 22, 1944. The impact of this bill on the country was far reaching and generational. Author Stephen Ambrose said that “[the] GI Bill was the best piece of legislation ever passed by the U.S. Congress, and it made modern America.” Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin said, “I think few laws have had so much effect on so many people. It meant that blue collar workers, a whole generation of blue collar workers were enabled to go to college, become doctors, lawyers and engineers, and that their children would grow up in a middle class family.” This was certainly true for my family. My grandfather left school after the eighth grade and my father dropped out of high school in the 10th grade. He then went off to fight in the Pacific during WWII in the Army Air Corps. After the war, he took advantage of the GI Bill and went to Washburn University in Kansas. After he graduated, he went on to get his master’s degree at the University of Wyoming, also using the GI Bill. Because of the benefits from the GI Bill, education became very important in our family. Three of the four children have master’s degrees, one has a doctorate degree and another is in the dissertation stage working on a doctorate in engineering. My family was just one of the many millions that benefited. By the time WWII ended, there would be 15.7 million veterans. Of these, 51 percent would take advantage of the educational benefits. There www.MAE-kmi.com
would be 2.2 million enrolled in post-secondary education and another 5.6 million took vocational training. In 1947, half of all of the college students in America were veterans. There were two concerns with this surge in veterans going off to college. Would the colleges be able to handle the influx? How would these new students, from blue collar families, do academically? Both concerns turned out to be unfounded. Colleges stepped up to the task. On campuses across the country, prefabricated buildings and “quonset huts” served as temporary classrooms and the needed faculty were there to meet the demand. The veterans actually turned out to be exemplary students. They were older, more mature and highly motivated. According to The New York Times, these veteran students were not just holding their own; they were “hogging the honor rolls.” According to Glenn Altschuler and Stuart Blumin, authors of The GI Bill: A New Deal for Veterans, the veterans “earned higher grades than their civilian counterparts.”
Déjà Vu Seventy years after the first GI Bill, we find ourselves in a similar situation. Over the next five years, over a million servicemembers are expected to transition out of the military. With an economy that continues to flounder, the job prospects for these returning heroes remain daunting. In February, Defense Communities reported that there are 844,000 veterans without jobs. The unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans was 11.7 percent. This is an unconscionable tragedy for America. The resolution of this problem will require a herculean and coordinated effort by all parties in government, industry and education. Those of us in the military education community can play a major role in this effort. According
to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the 2011 unemployment rate of post-9/11 veterans with a high school diploma was 16.4 percent. In contrast, for those veterans with a college degree, the unemployment rate was only 6.4 percent. Clearly, getting that degree is paramount to success. However, to be more effective, we will need data to better determine what factors influence graduation. Along these lines, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it will be teaming with the National Student Clearinghouse and the Student Veterans of America to collect data on veteran students. The sharing of best practices by civilian institutions, DoD and VA is vital. My goal over the next 2013-14 program year as president of CCME is to have our organization facilitate this sharing of information. By leveraging our collective government and institution resources, we can make a difference in helping our servicemembers achieve their education goals. I look forward to working with all parties in this very rewarding and worthwhile process. I certainly hope that you can join me in Savannah, Ga., February 10-13, 2014 for a very productive, interesting and educational CCME Symposium. O
Michael Heberling, Ph.D.
Michael Heberling, Ph.D., is the CCME president. He is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and president of the Baker College Center for Graduate Studies. MAE 8.2 | 25