Demeaning

The army general went on with his speech:

"Unfortunately, although being viewed as leaders, administrators in the Pentagon or the Capitol may not be successful naval officers. Many of them are forced to change their path to administration simply because they serve no meaningful function in the Navy. Oh, that's beyond the point. What I mean is, the Elite Program is imposing a value - or an impression - to the young people that those so-called leaders at Washington are the real creme de la creme, while front line work of coastal defence and serving in aircraft carriers are only meant for those who do less well in the Scholastic Assessment Test."

"But good leaders are not only the ones staying in Washington; we need the same kind of people to take charge of our fleet and coastal bases." The principal said.

"Exactly. But, front line military tasks dominate their schedule, and leading or administrative work occupies no more than 20% of their time. As a thick-head old school soldier, I shall prefer to have the dozen of high flying students in the Naval Academy - or the West Point - to focus their effort and become trustworthy front line military officers. If chances occur later in their career and they need to take up some role of supervising or leading, there are ample of ways that they could acquire that extra skill."