ASTP & V-12.

This is coolbert:

During the Second World War [WW2], the various military services implementing programs at the college and university level for those persons demonstrably of higher intellect, the purpose of which was to provide that cadre of highly educated officers, specialized and otherwise.

For the Army it was the ASTP [Army Specialized Training Program]. For the Navy it was the V-12 program.

1. ASTP. Accelerated college and university level classwork for a select group of young men, those enlisted men still under military command, wearing uniforms, eating in a mess hall, receiving military instruction and physical traiing IN ADDITION TO THEIR NORMAL CLASSROOM WORK.

A normal four year college or university education completed in eighteen months? NOT all graduates destined to become officers however, technical and special skills also in demand [languages for instance!].

"The Army Specialized Training Program was a military training program instituted by the United States Army during World War II at a number of American universities to meet wartime demands for junior officers and soldiers with technical skills."

"ASTP differed from the V-12 Navy College Training Program in that producing technically-trained personnel and not officers was its primary goal"

"intensive courses, approximately 25 class-time hours per quarter, in engineering, science, medicine, dentistry, personnel psychology, and 34 different foreign language . . . These programs were accelerated; students were expected to complete the program in 18 months with a four-year degree and a commission.}

"While in academic training the soldiers were on active duty, in uniform, under military discipline, and received regular army pay. Recruits marched to class in groups, ate in mess halls located in the barracks, and trained in the fields around a campus."

The Army ASTP considered to be "more demanding than either West Point or the Naval Academy."

That notable alumni of the ASTP quite illustrious in the post-war years. Significantly so.

2. U.S. Navy V-12 program. The primary goal being to train OFFICERS and not specialists. Again, I would assume the selection process meticulous, those of above average caliber chosen, the grind of classroom work and military training both at an accelerate pace, INTENSE!

"The V-12 Navy College Training Program was designed to supplement the force of commissioned officers in the United States Navy during World War II."

"The purpose of the V-12 program was to grant bachelor's degrees to future officers from both the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps."

As with the Army program, V-12 having some very illustrious graduates. Exceedingly so. Persons who in the post-war period were movers and shakers of repute.

These various higher education programs were A BOON to post-war American society? Participants often were from families NO persons of which had ever attended a college or university. At a time when only 10 % of American adults had a university or college degree [almost all exclusively men too!],  the inclusiveness of these programs across the social spectrum thanks to the military was admirable!

coolbert.