Marc, maybe what we need to do is write a paper on how the "industrial revoluton" era education better served the military establishment then the "enlightened Dr. Spock" form of education we have now. I don't know about your University but at ours the "stove pipes" of the specialiazation process is breaking down. Inter-disciplinary is the catch phrase now and working toward a balance between theory and practice. When I got my Masters Degree the university I was attending was "state of the practice", and now working on my PhD the phrase is "applied research". My children though are being exposed to preliminary (primary) education that actually promotes concepts like "if they can't skip, then they can't read", and oh another goody "We don't care about accuracy they need to do math problems quickly" and feel good about it... I don't think the wave of education k-12 (with no child left behind laws) is going to serve the military. Credentialism is being fed by the fact the k-12 system is not doing it's job and you have to finish a students education. I'm not sure in higher education we're doing that well currently but I think it is getting better.