Myths About Military Schools

I just read the most appalling blog post about military schools and I just have to offer an opposing view point. Although, really, this whole blog is an opposing viewpoint.

This article was about “public” military schools in Chicago but makes many false generalizations that I know from conversation are what many believe to be true about military schools. So, consider this a myth-busting post about military school fallacies.

Fallacy # 1: “The military requires submissiveness and lock-step acquiescence to authority, while a broad education for democratic living emphasizes curiosity, skepticism, diversity of opinion, investigation, initiative, courage to take an unpopular stand, and more.”

Anyone who knows me now or knew me when I attended Howe Military School can attest to the fact that I am neither submissive nor in “lock-step acquiescence” to authority or anything else. If you’ve seen John Keating’s teaching style in Dead Poet’s Society, you have a vague idea of what the teachers at Howe encourage – curiosity and critical thinking. In my experience and in the experience of millions of children forced to attend public schools – it is public schools that rubber-stamp and cookie-cut children into terrified little conformists, desperate to find a clique and dreaming of being popular, forcing them over a precipice into pits of sex, alcohol and drugs hoping to either fit in or distract themselves from the pain. Howe Military School succeeds in nurturing self-respect (and respect of others), confidence, and social skills.

Fallacy # 2: “… military academies, along with other schools offering limited educational choices, are located overwhelmingly in low income communities of color, while schools with rich curriculums including magnet schools, regional gifted centers, classical schools, IB programs and college prep schools are placed in whiter, wealthier communities, and in gentrifying areas … This is a Defense Department strategy—target schools where students are squeezed out of the most robust opportunities, given fewer options, and perceived, then, as more likely to enlist”

Howe Military School is far from “limited educational choices.” It is a fine college prep school with a “rich curriculum” and a diverse student body – diverse in both income and color. It is certainly not in a “wealthier” community – it’s in the middle of cornfields many of which are owned by Amish people. The goal of Howe is to provide, not prevent, robust opportunities. Any success I’ve had – which I like to think is quite a bit – is due to my experience there.

I didn’t enlist because I had no other options. I enlisted in the Air Force for college money and because I, mistakenly, thought it would be a bastion of honor and excellence like Howe. But Howe Military and the “real” military are two different things. Much like growing up and expecting “professionals” in corporate America to act with the same maturity and intelligence that cadets are expected to practice their daily lives with.

Fallacy # 3: “Military schools and programs promote obedience and conformity … [because students] must be controlled, regulated, and made docile for their own good and for ours.” The author then goes on to say “An authentic commitment to the futures of these kids would involve, for a start, offering exactly what the most privileged youngsters have: art education, including dance, music instruction, theater and performance, and the visual arts, sports and physical education, clubs and games, after-school opportunities, science and math labs, lower teacher-student ratios, smaller schools, and more. Instead, to take one important example, a recent study by the Illinois Arts Council reports that in the city of Chicago, arts programs are distributed in the same way as the other rich educational offerings —white, wealthy communities have them, while low income communities of color have few or none. A 16 year old student … understood and accurately described the qualities her school aims to develop—unquestioning rule-following.”

That’s really two points in one but I’ll answer both. For the “obedience and conformity” nonsense you can just see Fallacy # 1. For the arts, music, science, math, LOWER TEACHER-STUDENT RATIOS, etc. … Howe prides itself on all of those. I think my largest class had less than 20 kids in it. I’ve also written about how teachers were available after hours.

Regarding all these comments about wealthy families … no, we weren’t wealthy but I was able to attend Howe not because I was wealthy but despite the fact that I wasn’t. I sat next to rich kids and we all got the same great education and experience.

Let me comment on “unquestioning rule-following.” When the shootings in public schools stop and the shootings in military schools start (I’ve NEVER heard of a single incident) then fans of public schools can start talking about “rules” and why they’re so bad. When public school kids stop committing suicide and killing each other, then come and talk to me about who strives for “conformity” and how individuality gets punished.

Fallacy # 4: “Military schools and programs promote and practice discrimination … Military schools and programs depend on logics of racism, conquest, misogyny and homophobia. Military schools need unruly youth of color to turn into soldiers, and they need [homosexuals] and girls as the shaming contrasts against which those soldiers will be created … It sickens us to think of students marching and growing comfortable with guns.”

While I attended Howe, at least half of the student leadership were African Americans. That’s not discrimination. At least, I don’t think so. I could be wrong. Wait, let me look it up … is promoting mostly African Americans racist … hmm… can’t find anything to support that … and shaming and discriminating against girls … I know that at least two of the Batallion Commanders in the last ten years have been female cadets.

“Growing comfortable with guns” … I have waited years to say this … We were surrounded by guns. Most cadets at most military schools (if not all) are surrounded by guns. I have never heard of a single shooting at a military school but frequently hear of them at public schools. I’ve never seen a metal detector anywhere on Howe’s campus. You know why? Students there learn dignity and respect. For each other … and, well, for guns. You learn how to use them properly. If the general public learned how to handle and store guns properly … fewer Moms and Dads would come home to find their childrens heads blown off. And since cadets wear uniforms, there’s no reason to shoot each other for sneakers and jewelry because hey, what do you know … I’ve already got the same clothes you do. There are no drugs on campus. Well, if there are the drugs and drug users are quickly dispatched with back to public schools where they’ll feel more at home.