Comeby! said:
aggie93 said:
Here's a thought. People like All Male and All Female outfits. Not everyone but most do. The opportunity to be in an All Male or All Female outfit is a very appealing one because you bond a hell of a lot closer than if you have an integrated outfit because the rules are the level of connection is going to be different.
I agree with everything you posted except this part. There was an all female unit years ago. I wasn't a part of the corps then but I'm sure that unit wasn't treated in a way a soldier, statesman and knightly gentleman should. Additionally with that logic, you could justify an all-white unit. It's what some cadets could really want, right? This isn't about what the cadets/recruit want,necessarily. It's what's best for the graduates of Texas A&M. Notice it didn't say anything about what's best for the military which I think is where we are misaligned with the commandant. He needs to realize that he's to be a steward of all Aggie cadets not just contract or what his prior job obligated him to be.
We and the commandant is not addressing the 'why aren't people joining the corps' part. Or the why aren't people whipping out. With his proposal, to some extent we are throwing out the baby with the bath water.
Actually I very much know what I am talking about. When I was a Freshman it was the last year before integration. We had an All Female outfit in my dorm a couple floors down. They did things a little differently but they had high retention numbers and high morale. They were treated with respect and if you said the "W" word or didn't treat upperclassmen with the same respect as you would any males you would feel the full fury and your buddies along with you.
Then they integrated and it was a disaster. There was a point I honestly wondered if they would have any females left. There were multiple sexual harassment cases that came about over the next couple of years and virtually all of them were dropped later as they were found to be false, one female cadet admitted she made it up because she just wanted to transfer and had to have an excuse or else she would lose her scholarship. Almost ruined a highly respected leader's life.
Over time they figured it out and it has improved. Still the point is that you can offer both experiences.
Oh and this couldn't be more different than an "All White" outfit and that's frankly insulting. You have legitimate logistical issues with an integrated outfit you don't have with a non integrated outfit. If you have 50 guys on a dorm room floor and 4 females the 50 guys get to share one bathroom and the 4 girls share the other for instance. Unless you have at least 10 females in an outfit it will be unbalanced because you won't have mentors of the same sex across classes and that absolutely matters, especially for female cadets. You can't have an upperclassman barge into a room. You have to be much more aware of what you say and do in an integrated environment that is a challenge in that environment. Female cadets obviously don't have their head shaved and are treated differently. Female cadets have different physical standards.
The irony of your statement is that race doesn't impact any of that and if you go back historically A&M actually integrated races much easier than Texas did. Why? The entire point of the Corps is everyone is treated the same and you have to earn respect. Doesn't matter if you are rich or poor or if your Daddy was a General. Everyone is just a fish and all that matters is what they do and earn on their own. That environment makes it easy for racial integration to occur. Sexual integration by definition though means you have different treatment for one sex vs another and that leads to a different experience.
I'm fine with integrated outfits and I think they absolutely have value. I know of many female cadets that are far superior to many male cadets including some that can kick their ass on a PT test. Still there are differences between the sexes and that is reflected by the mandated (and necessary) difference in treatment as I gave examples of above. I don't think there is any harm in allowing males or females an opportunity to have a non integrated outfit and the fact that half the Corps isn't joining the military makes that even more pointed.
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
Ronald Reagan