I've always liked the idea that Starleet adopted the U.S.S. Enterprise assignment patch as the broader emblem for all of Starfleet after the phenomenal success of the starship's initial five-year mission.

So now, enter the new movie,

I can accept that the symbol was initially used as the assignment patch for the U.S.S. Kelvin prior to the construction of the Enterprise (don't like it, but I can accept it), but then why would Starfleet Academy be using the symbol BEFORE the Enterprise was even launched?

I supposed that in the Alt. Universe, Starfleet could have adopted the symbol as a memorial to the Kelvin? Does that make any sense?