Military Education

Military education dates back to before written history. In the American context, military education is largely a form of private school education established in the nineteenth century. Most military schools are middle and high schools based upon the practices and principles at the United States Military Academy at West Point. They are designed to produce graduates who have both the education and culture of the ancient Athenian soldier, and the discipline and courage of the ancient Spartan soldier. Some military graduates continue on to be part of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) programs at America's colleges and universities, though nine out of ten military school graduates pursue a career in the civilian world and not the U.S. armed forces. Supporters of military education argue that it provides discipline and leadership skills to young people at the precise time in America's cultural evolution when such skills are most needed.

Keywords Athenian; Cadet; Greenbrier Military School; Military School; Private School; Public School; Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC); Spartan; United States Military Academy at West Point

Overview

Military education has existed for as long as there have been warriors taking up arms in battle. From a practical standpoint, military education has been a necessity in a world seemingly engulfed in wars since before recorded history. Some of this military education has been ad hoc, or otherwise conducted on the battlefield, while later training schools were highly organized centers where the values of self-discipline, leadership and courage were instilled in the hearts and minds of young men. In some cases, military training has amounted to military indoctrination and even brainwashing, as evidenced by recent examples of young children being kidnapped and trained for service to African guerrilla groups such as the Lord's Resistance Army. In today's China, 12-year-old children are sent away to four mandatory weeks of military summer camp, the highlights of which include "studying advanced weaponry, such as U.S. Black Hawk helicopters and aircraft carriers" (MacLeod, 2007, para. 6).

This article will cover the longstanding and honorable tradition of military education in the United States at the primary and secondary school level. According to its supporters, military education provides young people - first boys and now girls - with a strong foundation for the rest of their lives. A popular slogan in military school literature is helping young people realize their full potential. "Teaching leadership and teamwork is the real purpose of these schools," said David Bouton, the headmaster of Benedictine High school, a Richmond, Va.-based military day school, "despite the misconception [that we] play with guns and do war games" (cited in Gehr, 1999, p. 65).

Characteristics of Military Schools

Military schools are schools that, while not operated by the U.S. military, are run along military lines. Most are modeled after the United States Military Academy at West Point, a school that emphasizes the education of the whole person. This means that students are taught the importance of the group over the individual, as well as the value of tradition, character, discipline, honor, duty and country. Since military education can begin for some students in elementary or middle school, these lessons are instilled at an early age. Military academies in the United States have sought to strike a balance between what one scholar of military education described metaphorically as "Athens" and "Sparta" (Lovell, 1979). That is, they strive to produce graduates who have both the education and culture of the ancient Athenian soldier, and the discipline and courage of the ancient Spartan soldier.

Many military schools or academies are boarding schools in which most or all students live in dorms on the school campus. Some military schools are owned and operated by public entities. For example, the Chicago Public Schools operates the Chicago Military Academy High School. According to the Association of Military Colleges and Schools of the United States, 42 military schools have programs that meet both standards set by the Department of Defense and regional school accreditation boards.

In addition to their normal coursework, cadets (military school students) often are required to perform community service projects and participate in extracurricular activities ranging from sports to drama and music. Cadets are expected to wear a military style uniform; address others with respect befitting their age and rank; and to participate in drills, marches and other military exercises. Hard work and excellence are rewarded through a merit system, while disobedient and otherwise poorly performing students receive demerits. Cadets who demonstrate a persistent pattern of truculent behavior are asked to leave the school.

While many American military schools are nonsectarian, especially those run as public schools, a number offer on-campus religious services in the Judeo-Christian tradition, and others are Christian military schools that emphasize the inculcation of both academic and spiritual values.

It is not uncommon for military school graduates to matriculate to some of the nation's most prestigious colleges and universities. Many military school graduates become part of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program at their college or university of choice. ROTC is an elective program at many U.S. colleges and universities that is designed to turn out commissioned officers in the U.S. armed forces. It focuses on deepening the skills learned in military schools.

The Purpose of Military Schools

Military school educators are at pains to point out that their primary goal is not to train the next generation of soldiers -- only about five percent of military school graduates pursue a military career (Gehr, 1999, p. 65) - but to produce leaders in all fields. Discipline, these educators insist, is a creative tonic. To take one supporting example, some notable graduates of Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pa., are as diverse as General Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of Allied forces in the First Gulf War; former New Hampshire Senator Warren Rudman; Grammy-winning musician Jimmy Sturr; and J.D. Salinger, editor of the school's yearbook and later the famous author of The Catcher in the Rye (Gehr, 1999, p. 65).

Droste and Seyfert (1941) make a somewhat paradoxical argument that military schools are good at helping students understand the costs of war, thus making them even more pacifistic than the general public. A study conducted on the eve of World War II showed that military school graduates tended to be anything but militaristic:

…less than one in nine among the graduates of this military school showed any degree of militarism in their point of view and that even their militarism was of a very mild variety; that the other eight-ninths had either a neutral or a somewhat pacifistic outlook. Both the mean and the median scores fall in the category entitled "mildly pacifistic" (Droste & Seyfert, 1941, p. 591).

Why Send a Child to a Military School?

Parents send their children to military schools for two primary reasons: first, if there is a family history with the military or military schools; and second, if the children have had some degree of behavioral or disciplinary problems. As historian William Trousdale, author of Military High Schools in America, puts it, parents "use a military system to teach kids what they should have learned in public schools. Parents are tired of worrying that [their kid] may be shot or stabbed or talked into stealing" (Trousdale, 2006).

History

One of the nation's earliest military schools, Greenbrier Military School, was founded in Lewisburg, West Virginia in 1812, a decade after West Point. It was a boys-only boarding school that closed in 1972 when it became the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine.

Other military schools founded in the 19th century, primarily in the South and Midwest, included:

• 1842: Marion Military Institute, Alabama

• 1852: Oak Ridge Military Academy, North Carolina

• 1879: Chamberlain-Hunt Academy, Mississippi

• 1879: Fishburne Military School, Virginia

• 1883: LaSalle Military Academy, New York

• 1884: Howe Military School, Indiana ("Association History," n.d.).

Numerous other military schools were established in the final decades of the 19th century. In Missouri alone, three military schools opened in the 1880s and 1890s: Wentworth Military Academy, Missouri Military Academy and Kemper Military School. Kemper was established by Frederick T. Kemper, the son of German immigrants in 1844. In 1899, the school, which always had had military connections but was primarily focused on educating the male children of frontier families, was officially changed to Kemper Military Academy. It operated continuously, educating some famous students such as the humorist Will Rogers, until it was shuttered in 2002. All told, there were over 600 military schools established in the United States between 1783 and 1914 ("Association History," n.d.).

The World Wars

The onset of World War I brought about a heightened sense of patriotism as well as uncertainty about whether a European conflict would spill over onto American shores. This translated into a desire of parents to send their children to receive military readiness training at military schools. As evidence of this trend, the student population of Kemper Military Academy had averaged 145 students per year until the war began in Europe; by 1918 it had swelled to 502 ("Echo Company," n.d.). Meanwhile, even public schools began offering military training for high school boys (Bliss, 1917) which included military drills (Ayres, 1917).

As the United States formally entered World War II in 1941 after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, and America's young men were in a no man's land between war and peace, nervous parents - the grown children of the First World War - wanted to prepare their young men for the inevitable in the hope that they'd come home alive. This sentiment, according to Captain Charles Frederick Hoffman of the Fork Union Military Academy in Fork Union, Va., "brought a tremendous avalanche of students to the military and naval preparatory schools throughout the country. In fact, so many candidates applied for admission that a vast number of the schools could not accept them all" (Hoffman, 1948, p. 593).

The Cold War Period & Viet Nam

In the immediate postwar years, Hoffman and other military school leaders enthused that military education was "becoming increasingly popular" (Hoffman, 1948, p. 594). As the Cold War began, and military tensions with the Soviet Union began to intensify throughout the 1950s, military school leaders like Hoffman noted that military schools provided an essential reservoir of trained junior officers ready to be called to active duty should circumstances warrant.

However, as the culturally tumultuous decade of the 1960s began, there was a change in attitude, and many traditional institutions of authority - government, church and military foremost among them - were challenged by what became known as the Counterculture Movement, an offshoot of which was the anti-Vietnam War movement. Slogans such as "don't trust anyone over 30" were in the air as protesters against the Vietnam War placed flowers in the barrels of guns wielded by National Guard soldiers. Military schools became linked, justly or not, with the Ancien Régime, and enrollments ebbed. By the end of the 1970s, many military schools either had closed their doors or became non-military institutions, and many observers fully expected military schools for secondary and middle school students to go the way of the dodo bird.

The New Conservatism

But it was not to be. The "silent majority" of conservatives that swept Richard Nixon into the White House in 1968 and again in 1972 solidified their grasp on power when conservative religious groups such as the Moral Majority helped engineer a landslide presidential election victory for Ronald Reagan in 1980. The 1980s and 90s were a time when older patterns of thought - religious, cultural and military - were reintroduced into the national political and social discourse and were embraced by the large swaths of the American public as reliable guides for the present and future. This happened at the same time as growing public dissatisfaction with some other institutions in society, including public schools, Hollywood and the federal government. Some of this upset was ideological but just as much was experienced by parents on a visceral level through the eyes of their growing and rebellious children.

It was in this context that what was thought to be a dusty relic of a bygone era - the military school - became more attractive to frustrated parents who reasoned that what their children needed was a healthy dose of discipline and structure. Enrollments at military schools grew steadily, and some schools were forced to put prospective students on waiting lists.

Today, in the post-September 11th era, as the United States enters a period of social, economic and political uncertainty, the future of military education is equally as uncertain. While postsecondary institutions such as the Naval Academy, as well as ROTC programs on college campuses across the country, will continue to train the next generation of the American military, it remains to be seen whether military schools will retain their unique history and traditions, or whether they will become merely proxies in America's ongoing culture wars.

Viewpoints

Do Military Schools Help Troubled Kids?

Supporters of military schools believe that their combination of discipline and mentoring is just what wayward youth need to develop to their full potential. However, there are some psychologists who argue that military schools overemphasize discipline. Aspen Education Group, a provider of educational programs for troubled youth, agrees:

The emphasis on discipline as the seemingly sole method of controlling a rebellious teen has created a bumper crop of discipline-oriented programs for these adolescents, from short-term boot camps to longer-term military schools. One of the problems with these solutions, however, is that they do not address the unique needs of adolescents with real emotional and behavioral problems. For example, students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, clinical depression, or other psychiatric or behavioral problems need more than a swift "kick in the pants" to get them to act appropriately (Aspen Education Group, n.d.).

Others argue that the discipline and structure that are the hallmarks of a military education does wonders for troubled teens. One example of a wayward youth set straight by a military school education was Eddie George, later the winner of college football's Heisman Trophy. "It's not for everybody. It's for a small number of kids," notes Joaiah Bunting, superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute. "But it does a pretty good job for kids who lack focus and need discipline" (cited in Gahr, 1999, p. 65).

U.S. Department of Defense Schools

While military schools get the majority of attention, there also is a vast network of K-12 schools all over the world operated by the U.S. Department of Defense for the children of active duty military personnel. These military-run schools operate as civilian schools, not military schools, and they produce what Schouten (2004) called an "army of solid performance" (p. 1). They enroll approximately 100,000 students in 220 schools around the world, 69 in the United States, U.S. territories and Cuba (Schouten, 2004).

According to some experts, these Department of Defense schools are not only superior to any U.S. public school, but they're superior to many private schools as well. According to Claire Smrekar, an associate professor at Vanderbilt University, the school system is:

… the finest school system in the world. There are excellent schools all over this country. But the consistency with which this school system delivers high performance and produces outstanding outcomes for these kids and their families is unprecedented (cited in Schouten, 2004).

The results of these schools are clear. On federal exams in reading, writing and math, the students attending Defense schools are at the top or close to the top. What's most impressive is that black and Hispanic students at Defense schools were at the top of the class in eighth-grade reading tests (Smrekar & Owens, 2003).

Why are such schools successful? Schouten (2004) offers some answers:

• High standards.

• Parental involvement.

• Trained teachers. Almost two-thirds of military school teachers have a master's degree.

• Higher paid teachers. Military school teachers make an average of $10,000 more than colleagues in U.S. public schools.

• Few discipline problems. One call to the parents of a disruptive student will often be sufficient to resolve a disciplinary problem (Schouten, 2004).

Terms & Concepts

Athenian: Used in the context of military schools, a metaphor for the education and culture that educators hope to impute to students. It is based on the military methodology adopted by the ancient Greek city-state of Athens.

Cadet: A term used to describe students in a military school.

Greenbrier Military School: The first military school opened in the United States. Located in Lewisburg, W. Va., it opened in 1812 and closed in 1972.

Military School: A form of school, primarily private, in which student life revolves around the practices first established by the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Private School: A type of school that does not admit all students who apply, is not funded by taxpayers and operates with a minimal amount of state or federal regulation and oversight

Public School: A type of school funded by public funds collected through taxes. Public schools are legally obligated to accept all students seeking an education. Some public schools serve students in their community, while others serve students from a wider geographical region

Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC): An elective program at many U.S. colleges and universities that is designed to turn out commissioned officers in the U.S. armed forces. It focuses on deepening the skills learned in military schools.

Spartan: Used in the context of military schools, a metaphor for the discipline and courage that educators hope to impute to students. It is based on the military methodology adopted by the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta.

United States Military Academy at West Point: An elective program at many U.S. colleges and universities that is designed to turn out commissioned officers in the U.S. armed forces. It focuses on deepening skills learned in military schools.

Bibliography

Aspen Education Group. (n.d.). Military schools. Retrieved October 15, 2007, from the Aspen Education Group http://www.aspeneducation.com/factsheetmilitaryschool.html.

Association of Military Colleges and Schools of the United States. (n.d.). Association history. Retrieved October 15, 2007, from http://www.amcsus.org/assoc.html

Ayres, L. P. (1917). Military drill in high schools. The School Review, 25 , 157-160.

Bliss, D.C. (1917). Military training in the high school. The School Review, 25 , 161-167.

Droste, E. P., & Seyfert, W.C. (1941). Attitudes and activities of graduates of a military school. The School Review, 49 , 587-594.

Fleming, B. (2012). The few, the proud, the infantilized. Chronicle of Higher Education, B11-B13. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=82316107&site=ehost-live

Gahr, E. (1999). The resurgence of military high schools. American Enterprise, 10 , 64. Retrieved October 13, 2007 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Premier. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=3639893&site=ehost-live

Hoffman, C. F. (1948). The growing importance of military schools. The School Review. 56 , 593-599.

Lovell, J. P. (1979). Neither Athens nor Sparta? The American service academies in transition. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

MacLeod, C. (2007, September 5). Children undergo military training at camps. USA Today.

Schouten, F. (2004, March 31). Military schools producing army of solid performance. USA Today. Retrieved October 15, 2007, from USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-03-30-defense-schools_x.htm

Smrekar, C.E., & Owens, D.E. (2003). It's a way of life for us: High mobility and high achievement in Department of Defense schools. The Journal of Negro Education, 72 , 165-177.

Tolliver, R. (2013). Preventing war with words. Language Magazine, 12, 28-31. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=88047066&site=ehost-live

Trousdale, W. (2006). Military high schools in America. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.

West, C. (2012). Teaching leadership to undergraduates: LUrom U.S. military colleges. Journal of College Teaching & Learning, 9, 135-146. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from EBSCO Online Database Education Research Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=79920087&site=ehost-live

Suggested Reading

Andrew, R., Jr. (2003). Long gray lines: The Southern military school tradition, 1839-1915. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press.

Will Rogers, cadet: A record of his two years as a cadet at the Kemper Military School. (1935). Boonville, MO: Kemper Military School.