A soldier takes a written exam on June 20, 2016 at Fort Hood, Texas. (Marcus Floyd/U.S. Army)
Earlier this month, Sen. Jim Banks introduced legislation to require the U.S service academies (West Point, the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy) to accept the Classic Learning Test (CLT) for admissions. This is a good move, worthy of the broadest bipartisan support. Banks’ bill will strengthen the academy admissions process by enlarging the applicant pool and enriching it with candidates that our military — and our republic — needs.
The CLT (full disclosure: I am an unpaid academic adviser for the exam) is a standardized test rooted in the great tradition of Western culture. The CLT champions rigor, logical thinking, and deep engagement with classic and historic texts such as the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
Accepting the CLT will strengthen the service academies in two ways. First, the current admission system penalizes CLT students just because they did not take the “right” standardized test. Banks’ new bill would level the playing field for service academy admissions.
Even more importantly, it would increase the number of high-value, high-potential candidates. Since schools naturally “teach to the test,” CLT fosters curricula both at the secondary and collegiate level that will anchor students in a shared identity, awaken them to a sense of purpose, equip them to think critically about complex topics, and imbue them with the humane values required for a healthy democracy. Students who are taught “to” the CLT learn to honor the inherent dignity of every individual, personal responsibility for the common good, and the sacredness of free speech, open inquiry, free enterprise, free worship, public assembly and due process.
As a graduate and former professor of history at the Naval Academy, I know that this type of humane education is essential to forming our future officers. Beyond practical skills in mathematics, engineering, science, military tactics and physical endurance, American military officers must be honorable, clear-thinking and wise.
That’s because American military officers are not just professionals: they are citizens. They do not swear merely to follow orders. They promise to defend the U.S. Constitution in “true faith.” Knowing how to do that is not as easy as doing what you’re told. Truly keeping faith requires the backbone to do what is right, even when you’re told differently. Such moral courage depends, in turn, on intellectual clarity to know what is right, prudence to achieve what’s right, wisdom to parse conflicting principles, and humility to act decisively while knowing that one could, despite best efforts and good intentions, be mistaken.
In America, we don’t expect our officers to be mindless cogs obeying orders. We expect them to be independent, sophisticated thinkers who can advise their superiors — military and civilian alike — on decisions. Perhaps even more difficult, when that advice is not taken, we expect our officers to accept the ironies of service, submitting their armed prowess to civilian authority and abstaining from politics.
At the limit, expect them to stand and deliver when “true faith” to the Constitution comes at extreme personal risk. We expect them to wholeheartedly execute lawful orders, even at risk of life and limb. We expect them to refuse an unlawful order, even at risk of court-martial. And we expect them to resign their commission in protest when conscience conflicts with policy, even at risk of career and poverty.
No manual can clarify this complicated web of prudence and moral reasoning. ChatGPT will never have enough data to impart wisdom to those who don’t already have it. The best, and perhaps the only, way young men and women can gain the moral and intellectual virtues necessary to become the best kind of officers is to grapple in their books and classrooms with those writers whose reflection on these puzzles have stood the test of time.
That’s what’s at stake with Banks’ bill. This is much more than a matter of academic governance or the rigor of admissions standards, however important those issues are. It’s about how we educate those whom we trust to defend our way of life.
The CLT will help our service academies grow the next generation of James Stockdales. During seven years as a POW in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton”, Vice Adm. Stockdale kept faith with his country, his comrades, and his convictions. He kept perspective through years of privation because he had internalized the Stoic philosophy of Epictetus. He sparred with his Communist captors, beating them at their own mind games, because he’d studied with care and respect the writings of Karl Marx. His intellectual formation, as much as his physical courage, helped him endure. It’s no accident that Epictetus and Marx are in CLT’s author bank.
Embracing the Classic Learning Test tells our incoming midshipmen and cadets that we expect them to achieve more than meritocratic benchmarks. We expect them to become wise, courageous servant leaders. We expect them to keep “true faith.”
Tim Feist served as a U.S. Marine Corps officer from 1998 to 2007. He led Guns Platoon B/1/11 (“The Beastmasters”), deployed to Pakistan with the 15th MEU(SOC), and served on the History faculty at the U.S. Naval Academy. He is founder of Feist Stone, a bespoke hand-carving workshop in Annapolis, Md., focused on architectural lettering and relief.
