It's late, so, I haven't the energy, motivation or time to work this out at length, but, I had a notion that seemed to be a fairly good use of resources. My struggle with a lack of clear direction and purpose has been around for a while. To have clearly identified a career path by now seems like it should have been a piece of cake. Not really. As frequently as I wrestle with the "What am I doing with my life?" type questions it only recently occurred to me there is a brilliant opportunity for our country to blend the military resources and educational system. An old employer of mine once considered enlisting in the military. They ran a battery of tests to help identify potential areas of expertise and ability. The accuracy was surprising. This was a few decades ago. I can only imagine what they do today.

Since our educational system aims to empower our youth and invest in the development of tomorrow's leaders, why would we not utilize these diagnostic tests on our high school students (or early college). This would be a marvelous application of an existing system (the testing) that would greatly benefit the current and future country. Now, I can already imagine the immediate uproar: you're potentially forming a militaristic state by interloping in the lives of impressionable men and women. Yes. That's precisely the point. By giving them knowledge to guide and direct their lives in meaningful ways. Absolutely. I'm sure some folks would only see a power-hungry militaristic state intruding in the pure, unhindered world of the free-minded academics. But, in reality, there are so few who go down this road. The rest of us, all 99.5% of the educated American population, go through school, do our time, and come out on the other side saying, "Ok, what now?" Why should we not benefit from the insight we have paid to develop?