Document created: 29 September 03
Air University Review, May-June 1974
In April 1972 General John D. Ryan, then Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, set a new goal for minority officer representation in the Air Force. By 1980 he wanted 5.6 percent of the officers in the Air Force to be members of minority groups. This represents a 300 percent increase. In order to achieve this goal, the various Air Force recruiting sources have been asked to increase their proportion of minority members to much higher levels than ever before. For the U.S. Air Force Academy, this means that it should increase the number of minority graduates from 3.4 percent in 1973 to 11 percent in 1980.
Minority students entered the Academy for the first time in 1955 when one Asian American student was admitted. The first black students, three in number, entered in 1959. One American Indian student entered in 1964, and eight Spanish-surname students entered in 1966. Of the 844 cadets graduating from the Academy in the summer of 1973, 29 (3.4 percent) were members of minorities.
The recruiting methods of the Academy until 1972 had been through a number of programs that were aimed at the top one-third of high school male graduates. Some of the applicants were members of minorities, but no specific official efforts to recruit minority students were in existence.
There were, and there still are, a number of reasons why only a handful of minority high school graduates have come to the Academy. Entrance requirements are very rigid, and achievement on College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) tests or on those of the American College Testing program (ACT) by those accepted is substantially above that required by the average civilian college or university. Because of this, many students refrain from even applying to the Academy for fear they might not meet the requirements. Additionally, the Academy is known for its rigid and relatively difficult curriculum. A further reason is that opportunities at the Air Force Academy have not been publicized adequately at most secondary schools with a predominantly minority student body. Everybody has heard of West Point and the Naval Academy at Annapolis, but many students and even educators simply are not aware that the Air Force Academy exists and that it is open to anyone who can meet entrance requirements. Counselors and teachers are often of little help in passing information to the students about the Academy. In fact, as has happened in many instances in the past, erroneous information is given to students. Another major factor was the generally unpopular attitude prevailing throughout the nation toward the military as a whole. The Academy was and often still is looked upon simply as another air base through which the military inducts civilians for military service. This, then, was the general situation in 1972.
new recruiting efforts
Officials at the Academy had already become aware of the problems, however, and had assigned one black officer to the Candidate Advisory Office under the Registrar to advise the Academy in its recruitment aims for minorities. Additionally, in February 1972 three senior black cadets collaborated on a letter to those agencies at the Academy that were concerned with the admission and recruitment of minority students. In the letter they expressed their concern about the low enrollment of black students at the Academy. With this complaint they also offered a solution: They recommended that as many as four black Academy graduate volunteers be deferred from assignment to their future Air Force job for a period of eight to ten months and instead be assigned to the Academy to assist in recruiting black students during that time. These cadets felt that they could be more effective as recruiters for blacks and other members of minorities because:
a. Minority graduates are the best source of information pertaining to their experiences at the Academy.
b. As newly graduating students, they are closest in age and philosophy to the prospective candidates.
c. A deep-rooted common bond exists between minority graduates and the minority candidates. For example, in the case of blacks, this bond is blackness. Furthermore, minority graduates are more sensitive to the needs, attitudes, and goals emerging from the minority consciousness. In other words, an easier identification by each side with the other is possible.
d. Minority graduates, being exposed during recruiting activities to the communities, will create a favorable image of the Air Force and particularly the Air Force Academy.
For these reasons the black graduates felt they could have great influence in gaining the trust, support, and assistance of students, parents, and counselors.
The idea was accepted and fully supported by the Superintendent of the Academy. In August 1972 a Minority Affairs Office was established. One black captain and the three black graduates, now lieutenants, were assigned to it. In the summer of 1973 a Hispano captain also joined the office staff, and the three lieutenants (who began their Air Force career in their regular Air Force specialties) were replaced by four 1973 Academy graduates—three black lieutenants and one Oriental lieutenant. All are volunteers and support the idea that they can assist at increasing minority representation in the Academy student body.
the minority affairs office
The primary purpose of this office is to recruit minority students, advise the Superintendent of minority affairs, and counsel and assist those applicants who have been admitted to the Academy. Their progress is monitored by the members of this office throughout their stay at the Academy. Some examples of the work of the lieutenants will best illustrate the task of this office.
Upon request, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare supplied a listing of those areas in the United States that have a population predominantly black and of other minorities. Having decided on the particular area in which he wants to work, a lieutenant establishes contact with the local Air Force Academy Liaison Office (LO), who is a reserve officer not on active duty. The lieutenant then arranges, with the assistance of the LO, a visit to that area for a number of days. Through the LO, contact is established with counselors and principals of local high schools, who in turn schedule a particular time period during which the lieutenant delivers his presentation. Additionally, newspapers, as well as radio and television stations, are given news releases, and interviews are scheduled.
The three lieutenants are military recruiters in a general sense; yet they prefer looking upon their job as that of a college admissions counselor. For this reason there are occasions when they do not wear their uniforms when on a recruiting trip. As they explain it, “We’ve found that when one talks with people from the inner city with a uniform on, everybody’s impression, from the school counselors to the students, is that we are regular Air Force recruiters. . . . If we can reach them before they tune us out, then they can be more receptive to the idea of a uniform, the short haircuts, polished shoes, and all that. . . . A lot of times the stereotype image particularly carries to the counselors. They think you’re a recruiter in the strictest sense, and they ask students to come for a briefing if they are interested in getting into the Air Force. In other words, a false picture is created. We are looking not for students who want to go into the Air Force. We are looking for students who are interested in going to college. We want those students to apply to the Academy, get admitted, receive an outstanding education, and then become Air Force officers. Therefore, we want to present more of an atmosphere of a college admissions counselor.” They stressed that “the Air Force and the Academy are one hundred percent behind us.”
The recruiting pitch depicts the Air Force Academy as a four-year college that offers one of the best general education programs in the country, with opportunities to obtain a portion of graduate credits. If qualified, some students are able to continue graduate school or professional school, such as medical and law school, upon graduation from the Academy. In addition, during the four-year term at the Academy the student gets paid, even though all his tuition, as well as room and board, are furnished by the government. Furthermore, upon graduation the student, unlike many of his civilian counterparts, steps into a relatively well-paying career with various opportunities for advancement, travel, education, and job challenges.
Although the lieutenants are specifically concentrating on the recruitment of minorities, they are prepared to talk to anyone interested in the Academy or the Air Force in general. Their greatest success seems to be in cities where they are able to identify one or two people “who seem to know everybody in town.” These are usually leaders in such groups as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Urban League, Hispanic societies, and other ethnic organizations.
Despite useful contacts, the lieutenants encounter a number of problems in their recruitment efforts. The standards for admission to the Academy are high. Additionally, the Academy is a four-year institution, meaning that a student must spend four years at the school; he cannot, by extra effort, graduate in less time. Furthermore, “we make no exceptions in our minimum admission criteria, because it would not be fair to applicants [with lower qualifications] to be placed in such extraordinarily high academic competition,” the Associate Registrar at the Academy stated. In other words, the chances for success at the Academy of a student with lower entrance scores would be extremely small. Because of the high standards and competition, the lieutenants encounter their greatest difficulty in finding qualified candidates: “Where the blacks fall short primarily,” an officer in the Minority Office stated, “is in the fact that these students are not able to pass the English and/or math requirements.”
Another problem encountered by the lieutenants is the antimilitary sentiment that has been prevalent in the past few years: “For the blacks, the sentiment of antimilitarism has a different twist, however. It is not wrapped up in political issues like ‘Get out of Vietnam or Southeast Asia’ but rather in social issues. It seems to be much more important to these people what opportunities are available for blacks, and how much does a black have to compromise as far as his manhood is concerned.” Of course, this is the area where the black recruiters find that they are of much more assistance than a white recruiter, primarily because they speak from personal experience: “We can dispel these fears they have about being called an ‘Uncle Tom’ and becoming subservient because of the military structure.”
Once a student is accepted, personnel of the Minority Affairs Office see to it that he receives proper information about study habits and budgeting of time and that he knows, in the case of blacks, who his “brothers” are and where they can be found. All this information is extremely helpful in adjusting to Academy routines.
Of special help in the endeavor to retain students at the Academy are the minority faculty officers. Each of some 32 black faculty or staff officers at the Academy monitors the progress of a certain number of minority cadets. As one black faculty member stated, “The main reason for this is to insure that everybody graduates, to increase the number of minority officers in the Air Force, and to show minority cadets that they can do the work.” These officers counsel the students, invite them to their homes, and assist them wherever possible and whenever needed.
The Minority Affairs Office is presently engaged in organizing Spanish-speaking and other minority officers on the staff and faculty for similar purposes. “We have to overcome such basic problems as deciding on a name for all Spanish-speaking people,” one officer stated. “At present we are called Chicanos, Spanish-descent, Spanish-speaking, Mexican Americans, etc. We want a common name so that it will be easier to identify us.” The need for association and identification for Spanish-speaking students, as well as American Indian students, is of particular importance. Both groups have been traditionally accustomed to life styles that promote close family ties. Being placed in the Academy environment, completely away from their families, these students find that they have no one to identify with. Often the student so ostracizes himself as to develop doubts about his abilities, his confidence in himself wanes, his achievements suffer, and he eventually resigns. “To assist these students, we are attempting to provide a home away from home for them. But the only way we can do this is with the cooperation and understanding on the part of assigned minority officers. . . . There are a lot of things that need to be done, and we will do them!”
What about the results of the recruiting efforts? “It will take more than one year before we can really see the results of our work,” one minority recruiting officer said. “One thing is clear, though,” he continued; “we have covered the country pretty well, and we’ve got a lot of exposure for the Academy—I hope favorable exposure, and we are going to continue doing this job.” The Minority Affairs Office and the recruiting lieutenants are convinced that only good can grow out of their efforts—good for the minority student, the Academy, the Air Force, and eventually society as a whole.
the Grassroots Program
The Grassroots Program, established in 1969, was designed for cadets to spread information about the Academy during their vacation. On a voluntary basis, cadets would give presentations to high schools in their hometowns, provide materials to newspapers, and arrange for interviews with TV and radio stations. No funds were expended by the Academy. This effort is still in progress, and special emphasis has been given to minority students who volunteered for such tasks. Funds were authorized to send these volunteers to their hometowns and other areas to provide information to communities about the Academy. Often they provide names of interested high school students to the Minority Affairs Office, which then contacts the student and assists him in application procedures. The philosophy behind this program is similar to that of the recruitment program of the lieutenants of the Minority Affairs Office. The minority student at the Academy can depict life much better than a regular recruiter or any kind of brochure or poster. Additionally, he represents to the high school student a living example that success at the Academy for a minority student is possible.
liaison officers
Liaison officers are civilians who are in the Air Force Reserve, not on active duty. As a partial fulfillment of their Reserve obligation, some 1300 LO’s throughout the country have actively attempted to recruit male high school graduates for the Academy. Because of the emphasis on recruitment of minority students in the recent past, an attempt has also been made to identify more minority Reserve officers who are willing to work as LO’s. As one of the primary contacts for the recruiters from the Academy Minority Affairs Office, including the Grassroots recruiters, the LO’s have been responsible for establishing contact with local black leaders and leaders of other minority groups, high school counselors, and other school officials. They have arranged meetings and interviews with local news media and have assisted prospective applicants with information as to application procedures. In order to maintain proficiency about the information pertaining to the Academy and its admission policies, the LO’s visit the Academy periodically for briefings and tours. While some problems still exist in this program, the special efforts put forth by the LO’s have enabled Academy recruiters to make important contacts with local minority leaders.
educator-counselor orientation visits
Another method of spreading information regarding Academy life has been the Air Force-sponsored airlift program. High school principals, counselors, and educators are flown via military aircraft to the Academy for two-day briefings and tours including cadet contact. These airlifts are coordinated with the LO’s, who accompany the educators for their own update briefings. Recently efforts have been made to include more minority educators and counselors. In fact, several of the airlifts have been for members of minorities only. These airlifts occur approximately twice every week during the regular school year.
How effective are these airlifts? I interviewed several counselors and educators on such an airlift, a predominantly black group from the Baltimore area. There was no doubt that they were impressed with the Academy. One woman counselor from a 100-percent-black high school was particularly interested. When asked for her opinion, she said that she had heard of the Academy but had never suggested that any of her students apply for admission because she had thought it was primarily military-oriented. She was so convinced of opportunities for black students at the Academy that she told me she would make an all-out effort to help recruit eligible students. Obviously, she was not concerned about assisting the Academy in its recruiting efforts; her concern was to assist in providing an opportunity for her pupils to obtain an excellent education, totally free. If she is successful, the Academy and ultimately the Air Force will have gained, and so will the student.
Although to some it may seem that spending five years in the Air Force as an officer upon completion of the Academy program is too high a price to pay, the Minority Affairs Office has a quick answer: “I look at it this way,” one lieutenant said, “the Air Force is like a huge business corporation. They put you through school, and you give them some of your time in return. That is not unreasonable. But what corporation in the world would do that for you? I can’t think of any!” He had answered his own question. Furthermore, the majority of Air Force Academy graduates find they like the Air Force and stay for a career.
a major obstacle: standardized tests
The typical minority candidate applying to the Academy is a well-rounded individual with excellent high school qualifications. He would have no trouble being accepted at any major college or university. Minority students entering the Academy in 1972, for example, had the following qualifications: 56 percent were in the top 10 percent of their high school class, over 80 percent were in the top quarter, and nearly 90 percent were in the top third. More than 60 percent participated in some form of student government, with 25 percent serving as class presidents, vice presidents, secretaries, or treasurers. Over 26 percent were given outstanding achievement awards, and 15 percent were given citizenship awards. Practically every one participated in at least one type of sport in high school, track and football being the most popular, followed by basketball, baseball, and swimming. Two-thirds of those participating earned letters. About 40 percent were Boy Scouts, and about one-fourth participated in musical programs. By comparison with the average entering cadet, these achievements are not unusual, however.
Based on this background, plus the types of courses required at the Academy, the total academic load, the quality and academic background of the faculty, cadet motivation, and other factors, the academic standards at the Academy are high. The entry standards generally control the quality of entering cadets. These standards include average CEEB scores of 580 in English and 660 in math in addition to rank in the upper 40 percent of their school class.
Cadets at the Academy are required to complete a minimum of 187 semester hours of study, of which 145½ hours are in academic courses, 14½ hours in physical education and athletics, and 27 semester hours in leadership and military training.
In studies conducted at the Academy, a high degree of correlation has been noted between the admissions test scores and academic performance by cadets. Results of this nature have caused the Academy to place continuing emphasis on minimum requirements for admission. One consequence has been a rather small pool of graduating high school seniors eligible for entry to the Academy. It is estimated that approximately ten to twelve percent of all senior male high school graduates achieved CEEB scores and high school grades suitable for admission to the Academy. Among minority groups the figure is closer to two to three percent, creating an even smaller pool. The pool is further reduced by the active recruitment programs of other academic institutions. This has been particularly true in recent years when colleges and universities, because of social and political pressures, have placed special interest in recruiting qualified minority students. Additionally, many minority students who are actually qualified simply do not apply because they have not heard about the Academy, have a misconception of what the Academy stands for, or have heard of the relatively tough curriculum. Rather than risk failure and possible loss of face, many students are more willing to enroll at a civilian college where pressures are less intensive and chances of success greater.
One reason that minorities, particularly blacks, score low on entrance examinations is, in my opinion, that such tests are culturally oriented. The tests are relevant for the student who has had the normal American high school experience of the white majority, middle-class population. The subject matter covered in the achievement tests is taken from the kind of material that white middle-class or upper-middle-class high school graduates can be expected to have learned, given the achievement motivation that is normal within the white majority culture. Many minority high school students will not have had opportunities to be exposed to the same instructional materials; they will not have had the same opportunity for home study; and they will not have had the same internal motivation to achieve as white students. Parental pressures and values will have been channeled toward other than a high level of academic achievement.
The problem of language further complicates the issue. Chicanos, for example, are generally accustomed to speaking Spanish in their home environment. Blacks who come from predominantly black population areas of the country have a similar problem; many have been exposed at home, and in some cases even in elementary and high school, primarily to “black English,” that form of the language consisting of idioms and expressions peculiar to black culture. In both instances minority students look upon the English spoken by the majority white culture as a “foreign” language. Thus, when these students are exposed to tests or courses that are appropriate to the white majority culture, they often find themselves confronted with forms of expression quite alien to their accustomed language. Indeed, studies indicate that minority students, when compared with whites of equal ability, are most deficient in culturally oriented items.
These, then, are some of the major reasons for the low minority student enrollment at the Air Force Academy. Too few can qualify to pass admission tests. Standards are not lowered, however, because it is believed that if a student is admitted with lower qualifications he will not be able to adjust in the competitive and rigid academic environment of the Academy. Also, it would not be fair to those students who can pass the requirements to lower the standards. If this were done, it is hard to see how an institution such as the Academy could continue to provide academic programs of excellence. It is true that in the past few years more minority students have entered the Academy, primarily as a result of the increased recruiting efforts. But these students have generally been members of the middle or upper-middle minority classes who had adapted most to white society. There are many blacks and other minority students outside that group, however, who need and indeed deserve to come to the Academy. They may be potentially excellent officer material, but their culture, background, and life styles are different from what is presently measured by predictors and criteria. The Academy is attempting to assist these potential candidates in becoming qualified; that is, if they are qualifiable, help them to become qualified. If this can be done, the pool of possible candidates will be increased, giving the Academy and the Air Force an opportunity to increase their minority membership.
two promising prospects
If a student fails the entrance requirements but has a sufficiently high score to indicate a potential to pass the test, he may go to the Air Force Academy Preparatory School. The purpose of this school is simply to prepare young men for the Air Force Academy. The curriculum was designed to prepare deficient Academy applicants to compete eventually in Academy entrance examinations and, hopefully, to succeed as cadets at the Academy in all phases of training.
In 1972, a more concentrated effort toward recruitment of minority students to the Prep School was attempted. Students were allowed to enter with CEEB scores slightly lower than the previous requirements. On the basis of an analysis of this group, it was found, however, that students who were at the lower end of the group could generally not be upgraded sufficiently to achieve the minimum requirements for entrance to the Academy. In other words, there seems to be a decisive cutoff point in an individual’s ability eventually to become qualified within a certain time period. This experience supports the point of establishing a minimum requirement for the Prep School, as is the case with the Academy. If set standards for admission cannot be met by the student, his survivability chances at the institution, in competition with those who had higher scores, can be considered very small.
While this program has opened the door for some additional minority students, the pool still remains extremely small. In view of this, the aim to attain an 11 percent minority representation at the Academy seems at this time somewhat unrealistic. Given the nationwide college population of 5,730,557 (1971), 90 percent of these are white students, approximately 6.6 percent or 379,438 are black, and 204,661 (3.4 percent) are members of other minorities. The minority college population comprises approximately 10 percent of the total, and approximately half of these are women. On the basis of these figures, a 5 percent minority representation at the Academy would be a more realistic goal that could be achieved in reasonable time frames. Even so, the Academy needs to continue to employ aggressive and imaginative recruiting methods and increase the number of Prep School graduates in order to achieve such goals from the presently available pool.
In order to enlarge the pool of minority applicants who can qualify for entrance to the Academy, one other possibility exists. In 1971 Mr. Frank McFadden, Neighborhood Youth Corps Coordinator for the San Diego School District, visited the Academy. Realizing the relatively low representation of minority students at the Academy, Mr. McFadden challenged the Superintendent of the Academy to increase the number of minorities at the Academy. Responding to this challenge, Lieutenant General A. P. Clark, Superintendent, has given his preliminary approval for a pilot program that combines the efforts of the San Diego School District and the Academy to qualify more minority students for entrance to the Academy or any other college in the nation. Plans are being developed that call for students who have the potential to go to college to be identified while in the seventh grade. In volunteering to participate in the program, students will be administered the regular high school program but will be required to take special English, math, and basic science sequences. This program would last for the remaining four years of high school work. It is hoped that, if the students are exposed early to these various courses, they will be better prepared upon graduation to score sufficiently high on college admission tests and enter the Academy or any other college or university of their choice. Men and women will have equal opportunity to participate in this program. Selected teachers and staffs of participating high schools will visit the Academy for motivational purposes. Such motivational materials as films, tapes, slides, and brochures will also be provided. The Academy will assist the San Diego School District in developing course materials to acquaint students and teachers with modern study techniques, time-budgeting philosophies, and test-taking methods as used at the Academy. While the Academy hopes to benefit by assisting in enlarging the pool of minority college-bound students, it should be remembered that it is the student who will ultimately choose the institution he wants to attend. Initial concentration of the program was directed at approximately 90 students at O’Farrell Junior High School in San Diego in the fall of 1973.
Although this program is still in the development stage, it is clear that it has the potential, if successful, to become an effective method for many minority students to become qualified to pass present college entrance tests. If successful, this program, or a similar one, could have prospects for national application.
Faced with the problem of insufficient minority representation in its student body, the Academy has responded by developing vigorous recruiting programs. While the Minority Affairs Office, the Grassroots Program, the educator-counselor orientations, and the liaison officer program all help to assist in overcoming basic problems, the most basic problem of all—namely, to increase the pool of college-bound minorities —has not been resolved. But here again, the Academy has responded. The attempts at the Prep School and at a joint Academy—San Diego School District pilot program in qualifying those students who can be qualified could add considerably to the size of the pool. While it is too early to predict accurately the outcome or impact of these programs, it is clear that the Academy has committed itself to helping solve a national problem. In the event that the Academy reaches its goals of minority representation, actions will have spoken louder than words.
United States Air Force Academy
Captain Rolf A. Trautsch (M.A., San Francisco State University) is Academic Affairs Staff Officer and Assistant Professor of German at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Prior to his assignment at the Academy, he was an instructor at the Armed Forces Air Intelligence Training Center, Lowry AFB, Colorado. During 1972 he was an Intelligence Officer in Vietnam and Thailand.
Disclaimer
The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document
are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic
environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the
U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air
University.
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