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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 3 March 2020
Navy is overhauling education system as US advantages erode

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT and enroll the first students
Associated Press next year.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — For the existing naval
The U.S. Navy is overhauling schools, the Navy wants to
its approach to education do budgeting for the sys-
because the nation no lon- tem as a whole and Kroger
ger has a massive econom- will review their curriculum
ic and technological edge to avoid unnecessary du-
over potential adversaries, plication.
according to a strategy re- The schools — the Naval
leased Monday. War College in Rhode Is-
The Education for Seapow- land, Marine Corps Univer-
er Strategy 2020, provided sity in Virginia, Naval Post-
to The Associated Press graduate School in Califor-
ahead of its release, is the nia and Naval Academy in
first unified, comprehensive Maryland — will be expect-
education strategy for the ed to align their plans with
Navy and Marine Corps, the strategy.
said John Kroger, who is im- To encourage service
plementing the strategy as members to pursue educa-
the Navy's first chief learn- tional opportunities, aca-
ing officer. demic achievement will be
It is very much a response In this Saturday, July 27, 2019, file photo, sailors stand during a commissioning ceremony for the rewarded by the boards
to the nation's geopolitical U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer USS Paul Ignatius, at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. that decide promotions
position in the world today, Associated Press and integrated into fitness
versus the advantages it reports and evaluations.
had at the end of the Cold economically and techno- an advantage in fighting The Navy will ask Congress There's a close connection
War, Kroger said, noting logically, how do you win?" wars is driving the reforms, for more money for edu- between a person's curiosi-
China's economic strength Kroger said in an interview. Kroger said, the education- cation beginning in fiscal ty and aptitude for learning
and investments in 5G net- "We think we can out-fight al opportunities will change year 2022, but the numbers and their capacity to lead,
works, energy storage and potential opponents be- how and whom the Navy aren't finalized, Kroger said. the strategy states.
other major technologies cause we can out-think recruits. It's more challeng- He estimated it will cost $40 When the United States en-
that matter for war-fighting. them. In order to do that, ing to recruit when there's million to $50 million annu- tered World War II, nearly all
The Navy wants to create a we must have, by far, the relatively low unemploy- ally for the community col- its admirals were Naval War
naval community college best military education pro- ment, he said. lege, to educate about College graduates. Now,
to provide associate's de- gram in the world." The strategy does not spe- 40,000 people each year. less than a quarter of them
grees to tens of thousands Kroger came to the Navy cifically say how much the There would not be a physi- are because the Navy
of young sailors and Ma- from Harvard University, Navy is looking to spend cal community college hasn't stressed education
rines, at no cost to them. It where he was a visiting on education or where campus. Some general as much, Kroger said.
plans to unify the schools professor at Harvard Law the money will come from. education classes would "It's somewhat of a shift, I
within the existing naval School and leader in resi- Kroger said it will rely mostly be provided online, but think, from ways people
university system, similar to dence at the Kennedy on existing education fund- sailors and Marines would think about the effective-
a state university system, School of Government. He ing that can be used in a do the vast majority of their ness of the armed forces,"
and invest in them, as well was president of Reed Col- more cost-effective way. coursework online through he said. "We're not talking
as enact new policies to lege in Portland, Oregon, About $109 million was civilian universities and here about how fast our
encourage and reward from 2012 to 2018, and pre- transferred from other Navy community colleges that jets are, how powerful our
those who pursue profes- viously served as Oregon's programs this fiscal year to partner with the Navy. The missiles are. We're talking
sional military and civilian attorney general. Kroger pay for immediate educa- Navy plans to seek approv- about the brainpower of
education. served as a Marine from tion needs, including start- al from Congress this year our team."q
"In a world where poten- 1983 to 1986. up costs for the community
tial adversaries are peers Though the need to ensure college.

After 2 weeks of pounding, Leaning

Tower of Dallas is down

DALLAS (AP) — The Leaning The tower was the core of Vega Development, which
Tower of Dallas, the nearly an 11-story building that is redeveloping the site,
iconic remnant of a high- was imploded with explo- had said immediately after
rise building implosion gone sives on Feb. 16. The 11 the implosion that the tow-
awry, finally collapsed in floors surrounding the core er's demolition could take
a cloud of dust Monday duly collapsed, but the sol- up to four days.
after two weeks of being id concrete core contain- It ended up taking almost
whacked with a headache ing the stairway and eleva- four times that amount of
ball. tor shafts remained stand- time before it was taken
The tower collapsed about ing at an angle. The demo- down. In the meantime,
3:15 p.m. after a few last lition contractor has been the tower drew hundreds
whacks with a wrecking whacking away at it ever of people who took often-
ball swung by a high-rise since with a 5,600-pound whimsical photographs of
crane. No injuries were re- wrecking ball. themselves with the tower
ported. A spokeswoman for De La in the background.q