General Dempsey's Key-Note (Quicklook Notes)

[MikeF]

Schmedlap and JKM's post are valid. I'll provide one thought on how to make these changes occur.

We teach our leaders how to think not what to think. Every TRADOC school that I attended preached this philosophy, but it was immediately followed with classroom instruction and a checklist on how to do things. Grades were based on the ability of the student to check off every block on the list NOT creative or innovative thought. This gap always seemed like a paradox to me. In some specialized technical schools (Scuba as an example), it is imperative to follow the checklist. When diving, I would rather breath than dream up a new technique on underwater land navigation. Granted, a baseline understanding is required of TLPs, MDMP, etc, but we can create better opportunities for discussion. One way to accomplish this goal is through the use of less structured seminar sessions similar to a graduate school environment. These classes would facilitate more discussion rather than dictation.


v/r

Mike

[marct]

Hi Mike,

That's a really good observation and, in a mad act of synchronicity, that was a major component of Dr. Samet's presentation. She was using a seminar at West Point as the example, but it's there.

[Schmedlap]

In that regard, law school has been quite an eye-opening experience for me. Law schools generally do a good job of imparting a professional education on their students, on the assumption that they are entering a profession. It is nothing like what I experienced in Building Snore. I have not seen a single PowerPoint slide in law school. At Fort Benning, we alternated between a week of PowerPoint, followed by a week in the field conducting the mission exactly as your Platoon Trainers wanted you to conduct it - or else you just got hammered with artillery simulators and did mass casualty exercises for the rest of the patrol.