On Wed, 14 Oct 2015 02:54:36 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 10/14/2015 1:12 AM, wrote:
On Tue, 13 Oct 2015 10:48:45 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

Turns out I would have followed the same career path and would have been
able to accomplish whatever I have in my accomplishment bucket without
the degree. It certainly helped. But, (and you may find this impossible
to understand or believe), the Navy electronic and electrical schools
covered the same technical material in a much more comprehensive way
when compared to the civilian colleges and universities where I also
took courses.

That was my experience. I took basic electricity 101 and basic
electronics 101. (Essentially DC circuits and AC circuits
respectively)
All it really did for me was allow me to get 104 out of 108 on the
ETST and allowed me to go to FT school
Once I got there, I had pretty much wrapped up everything I learned in
"college " in a couple of weeks, my coasting was over and I had to
"turn to".



As I recall, "BE&E" school was a prerequisite course for several Navy
ratings including ET's, RM's, GM's, FT's and others. I was originally
designated to become a RM (Radioman). I had attended college for a
while before entering the Navy (in a liberal arts program) and I
remember that I struggled a bit with some of the math in BE&E school.
Math had never been a strong subject for me, even in high school.
Fortunately, a classmate had recently graduated from college with a math
degree before he joined the Navy and he tutored me a bit to help me with
the math.

Later, I converted to ET and was designated as a ETN ... meaning I
was to specialize in communications electronics. Another branch of ET
school was for ETR's who specialized in radar electronics. These
schools were much longer ... and whoever graduated first in class in
his/her respective rating (ETN or ETR) was allowed to go through the
other branch of ET school as well. Somehow I managed to graduate first
in class in the ETN branch and was allowed to then go through the ETR
course as well. Many of the course segments were the same for both, so
it didn't take as long to finish the ETR branch. The result was that
with additional duties at the school, I spent 2 years at Great Lakes,
just attending (and then teaching) electronics courses.

Teaching is a great way to learn, BTW.

They wrapped up the basics in 2 weeks of FT school, including the math
but it was essentially what I had taken before I signed up (the other
courses I took were Trig , a math tune up and a required "english"
credit that I filled with a tech writing class.
It was just part of the FT school as far as we knew but I suppose it
was a pre req. In that regard it was all pre req tho. Fail one week
and you were going back to the fleet as a striker in something besides
FT.
The E5 who was barracks commander was from subs in some snipe rate and
had to ship over for 6 to get the FT class. He wasn't making it until
another coastie and I took him under our wing and helped him.
My duties got a lot easier after that ;-) We did get him through.

I agree, teaching a subject is the best way to learn it, particularly
if you are serious about answering questions.

I ended up doing very well in that school and it set the standard for
every school I have been to since. I usually ace them.