Off We Go

My daughter has an English project where she has to write a five page paper on a topic of her choice. She's chosen to write about the Air Force Academy, because, she says, she wants to go there.

Okay, first I was delighted. My daughter at the Academy? Outstanding.

Then I remembered that there had been a serious problem with assaults on women cadets at the Academy, a few years ago; I don't know if its still going on, but the thought of my daughter in that situation disturbed me more than a little.

And then I remembered just how tough the Academy is -- I didn't go (my commission was ROTC, thanks very much; can't get much easier than that), but several of my friends in the AF did, and they just about uniformly spoke disparagingly of it. The general concensus was that they were glad to have gone through it, and glad to be done with it. Not at all fun, and most certainly not the citadel of light and justice that I always think of when I see pictures of the Academy chapel. The Terrazzo Gap may not still exist, but the attitudes that gave life to it almost certainly do.

Finally, I remembered how much of a leader and excellent scholastic you have to be in order to get nominated to go, and I thought 'okay, I don't have to worry about that, because my daughter, light of my life though she is, isn't a leader, and isn't a wizard'. I have to admit, I felt a little dejected thinking that.

So we'll see. Got a while yet.... and as someone said to me, even if she doesn't go, this is her chance to start thinking about what a good college looks for, years before her compatriots. And thats a good thing.