> also has corollaries across different groups than just low income
Nonsense! Nobody who wants to go to college joins the military unless they are low income. The US stopped drafting in 1973!
Nonsense! Nobody who wants to go to college joins the military unless they are low income. The US stopped drafting in 1973!
That said, I would like you to consider existence of two populations that refute your statement:
- surge of recruits immediately following 9/11 - military families
If you say nobody, you may want to consider qualifying that statement somewhat.
"Most members of the military come from middle-class neighborhoods. The middle three quintiles for household income were overrepresented among enlisted recruits"[1]
When you look at the educational attainment of those recruits, it erodes your claim. Just talk to some of them and you'll see there's virtually as many reasons for joining as there are recruits. The idea that there is one path for the college-bound (e.g., attending straight out of high school) is probably a contributor to some of the problems we see in college.
[1] https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/demographics-us-military