Could you hack it at the Academy?

[Tenacity]

Loved school, so the chance to spend another four years just learning, fantastic.

The Academy.

Lazy days sitting on the grass on campus, a Betazed councilor teaching us to get in touch with our feeling.

Class time where we practice not falling asleep as we sit for long hours at our consoles on the bridge. Periodical bouncing aimlessly in our chairs.

Learning not to envy the half dozen (out of a thousand) of our shipmate who actual get to be on away teams.

Gaining acceptance that we'll be unlikely to advance beyond the rank of ensign or lieutenant.

How to correctly select a holodeck adventure (the only adventure we'll ever get in Starfleet).

Stuff like that.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I'd pass and be a fasttracked starship engineer.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Class time where we practice not

committing suicide

as we

stand

for long hours at our consoles

in the transporter room.

 

[Horizons96]

SF Academy seems like studying multiple university degrees (from maths and advanced science to philosophy and anthopology/sociology) at once, mixed with a military-esque bootcamp that goes for four years. I'd like to think I would give it my best!

 

[Tosk]

The Academy in TNG seems like it might be out of my reach. But based on some of the minor crew in TOS, I could definitely get into that version of the academy.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

Did we ever really see any actual information on the physical requirements?

I mean, Starfleet officers generally look healthy, but they usually don't seem extraordinarily athletic. I'm sure they try to teach you some hand to hand combat techniques at some point, but judging by the performance of every security officer ever, they don't put that much emphasis on it.

 

[Jedi Marso]

Yeah. 4 Years of NROTC and an engineering degree back in my youth, then another decade as an aviator before I pulled the plug and went to the civilian world.

Not only do I think I could hack it, I'd apply multiple times until I made it!

On a side note concerning education in the future: all those people who think they struggle with math would probably have an easier time of it in a 'future' environment when computerized aids could assist in visualization of concepts. Some higher math functions are very abstract and hard to conceptualize- teaching them with 2-D or 3-D visual aids would probably help quite a bit. And while I don't necessarily buy the idea of elementary schools grasping calculus, they could probably pick it up a lot easier when their basic math education is solid and well-ingrained enough that they don't 'lose' or 'forget' it. Math is a language that builds on everything that comes before the next step. That's why so many people fail at it- if you don't grasp the concepts that came before, it makes grasping the more advanced ones even that more difficult.