Colleges need more veterans

North County Times 1/15/07

By Dennis M. Clausen

Yes, our local colleges and universities need more veterans ---- but for reasons that go far beyond the obvious need to provide educational opportunities for military personnel.

As reported in the North County Times on Jan. 2 ("Governor's initiative encourages troops to pursue higher education"), Gov. Schwarzenegger's California Education Opportunity Partnership, also known as Troops to College, was created for "veterans to attend California's public higher education institutions." Palomar College, MiraCosta College and Cal State San Marcos could all be deeply influenced by the influx of more veterans into their classrooms. Private universities like the University of San Diego where I teach, which already has many ROTC, active military and veteran students, would probably not be affected by the initiative.

Troops to College spokesman Paul Browning described the program as "transitional therapy" for veterans who are adjusting to civilian life. I would like to add my own personal reasons for supporting the program.

Most college classes are comprised primarily of recent high school graduates. These students bring a good deal of youthful energy and idealism into our college classrooms. Though they can be surprisingly insightful, they are often immature. Their views of the world are incomplete, as one might expect. Veterans, by their very presence in our classrooms, help these younger students (and their professors) develop a more balanced view of the world.

Let me add quickly that the veterans I have taught represent a wide spectrum of personal philosophies and political views. They are far removed from the lockstep military caricature that exists in the popular imagination. What they often bring into the classroom is a seasoned and realistic sense of the world as it exists, not what we might want it to be. Their experiences provide an invaluable counterbalance to the youthful idealism of recent high school graduates.

Practicing self-discipline, meeting deadlines, showing up for work on time, treating others with civility and respect ---- these are other lessons many recent high school students need to learn. Veterans are good role models because most of them have practiced these virtues for years.

One of my best students at USD was a Marine veteran who was so very well read that he probably could have taught my American literature course. Yet, he was too humble to acknowledge how much he knew about the subject. He finally explained to me that whenever he was deployed, he loaded up on as many books as he could take with him. He read and reread them whenever he could, even when serving in hostile parts of the world.

Literature took on a new meaning for me when I thought about how this veteran had found great joy in reading literary classics even while serving in war-torn countries. I have shared his story with some of my younger students in the hopes that it would help ease their concerns about courses they believe "require too much reading."

Yes, our local colleges need these veterans ---- not only as students, but also as teachers.

Escondido resident Dennis M. Clausen is a freelance columnist for the North County Times and is a professor of American literature at the University of San Diego.