Charles Mason (became a judge) holds the highest graduating grade point average in the history of West Point. Second highest is Robert E. Lee. Third highest is Douglas MacArthur. Top students have always interested me and I like to see how their lives turned out. The guy who graduated valedictorian in my high school class became a college professor. He played sports and was an all-around nice friendly guy. I'm still in touch with him. --I graduated 3 Navy schools -- 9th in a class of 72 and 55th in a class of 318. I don't remember the third school listing class standings. --In high school I was in a half day of school and half day work program. I was the first person to make a perfect score from any boss in 7 years. --Anyone graduated salutatorian or valedictorian in high school? What do you do today?
I did one of those half-day high schools. The vocational part of it was much more relevant to real life, but the jobs were not there after graduation. I can't say where I was ranked, but I was chosen as the "shop foreman" in my senior year. After that, I worked for a mason until taking a job in a steel mill. That wasn't the life for me, so I went to college, was selected as the English Major of the Year in my junior year, invited to join Mensa, and graduated magna cum laude. Other than saying I was a good student and making my resume longer, all that really meant nothing. I'm now just a retired teacher. We sometimes put too much emphasis on these things. I say learn all we can learn, find interest in learning, and do the best we can.
I was nominated for the Naval Academy, passed the physical, pass the board review, flunked the entrance exam. I admire those folks who graduate from a service academy.
My father enlisted in the Air Force right after high school, and was selected for OCS after a couple of years. He flew for 22 years. My younger brother went to a prestigious University for engineering, joined the ROTC, and tried hard to become pilot, but couldn't make it. Sometimes life leads us in unexpected directions. I'm glad that I worked in that steel mill because I learned just how badly I hated it. It was one of the motivators that made me put everything into my education. I seriously did not want to go back to that lifestyle. You were in the Navy?
Yes. I was serving when nominated for the Naval Academy. Joined the Navy 2 weeks after graduating high school. At that time if you joined before your 18th birthday you would be discharged on your 21st birthday. If already 18 you had to sign up for 4 years. So I served 3 years and 3 months as I was 3 months shy of my 18th birthday. I didn't give any thought to that, I just wanted to join as soon as I graduated. Went to 3 months machinist school after boot camp, then on to 2 months submarine school and then aboard a diesel submarine where I spent the rest of my hitch in the engine room. See my avatar where the captain is pinning my dolphins on me to signify I was 'qualified in submarines'. Why did you ask?
Thank you for his service. This must be difficult for a father. My four children are all girls and too young to join and two of them are in the Netherlands and very young so in much less danger even if they did join the military. I worry about my American girls though!
Good for him. You must be proud. That would be the nuclear sub the West Virginia, a great sub and a great state. I served on the USS Thornback SS-418, a diesel sub. I created and maintain a website for my sub. You can visit it here . . . http://www.ussthornback.com/
Well, we've totally derailed your thread, but it's good that you created your website for all those who served on that sub. I honestly don't know how you can take being so cramped up in that tiny space for months at a time. It takes more than someone like me to do that.
In high school and college I got straight As except for one A- in a race relations class I was forced to take and I got a C in a typing class in High School. I write articles that actually get published in magazines five or six times a year. Some of those articles have won awards. Even so, I am completely capable of making an incredibly stupid mistake. I don't consider myself an intellectual because I feel those who consider themselves an intellectual arrive at a point where they refuse to learn anymore (because they already know enough). The smartest person I ever knew stated that he can learn something from everybody he ever met, and I hope I can emulate that behavior. Actually listening to others and learnong from them at every opportunity is what will make you a wiser and smarter person. Trying to educated the unwashed masses will make you unsufferable.