Howe Herald Online

Howe Herald Online

I loved writing those words! It looks so much better than the PDFs (which always looked horrible and were about 5GB in size) and I love that it has the potential to be updated often and comment on stories! News and pictures every day about my beloved Howe?! I couldn’t be happier! Check it out.

New HMS Website Is Beautiful!

I couldn’t have done it better myself. I brought the site up today to get the correct ZIP code and was stunned. Surprised. My jaw dropped. It looks great. I mean really great. I have to admit the one I began designing in the hopes they’d use it didn’t look anywhere near this good and I’m a damn good designer.

I’m not just raving because it looks better than the old site – that bar was, indeed, very low. This new site is impressive in its own right. I’m proud of it. So I won’t waste space saying things like “the graphics are crisp instead of pixelated” or “isn’t it awesome that the colors match.” This new site deserves much better praise than that.

The Home Page
Without making obvious comparisons to the old site, the first two things I noticed about this most-excellent home page is the logo in the upper left all by itself – as crisp & clear and majestic as it deserves to look – without any clutter next to it. Just our crest … speaking for itself. Bravo. Nice touch – very nice touch.

I just like sitting here and staring at it. Adoring it. Le sigh.

The second thing I noticed was the slide show. Again, the previous incarnation notwithstanding, it is fast and beautiful. This is my favorite shot:

I’ve always been a big fan of this “out of the box” effect with photos in a layout.

Sports News

The Sports News section of the old site was, really, the only well presented and maintained section but the overall improvement of, well, everything … the design … makes it even more pleasant to visit.  There are also links to news on the homepage.

Howe Herald Online
The home page includes a link to the Howe Herald Online blog which makes me so happy I wanna pee my pants.

Alumni
Like a good concert, they left me wanting more. The Alumni section must still be under development. What I’m hoping for is a comprehensive store combining the old Alumni store and online Quartermaster but with even more merchandise that I know is in the real brick & mortar QM I’d love to be able to purchase online. And, of course, a place for wish lists and online contributions. I’m sure all of that is already in the works – I’m just sayin’.

Prediction
Now that the school is “wearing a jacket and tie with a shave and a haircut to the interview” instead of “dressing like a schizophrenic homeless person with Tourette syndrome and bringing a shopping cart to the interview” I predict enrollments rise significantly.

Second Prediction
Alumni giving will increase.

Zero Tolerance Policy

Recently, someone posted comments saying nasty things about the students of Sarasota Community Schools. The comments were immature, inappropriate and were, accordingly, removed.

Even more recently, another directed accusations at a young lady I wrote about.

I have no respect for someone – especially anonymous someones – beating up on children. If you must defame children barely into puberty, please don’t do it here. Apparently the courts are fine with you cyber-bullying youngsters on Facebook and MySpace so take your cowardly and stupid comments there.

The Road To Teaching Part 14

Sarasota Community School is closing. Or, I should say, evolving. Regardless, it doesn’t seem they’ll need me as a teacher but perhaps in some other capacity. Here are some pictures I took just to show the difference from the razor wire and stainless steel furniture of Palmetto Youth Academy.

The Road To Teaching Part 13

My hopes for some long-term success at Palmetto Youth Academy (PYA) didn’t really work out but my hopes haven’t been completely dashed. I’m reading through a study guide for the General Knowledge FTCE (the second of three exams I have to take for my certification) and I’m obtained a similar position at Sarasota Community School which is almost a mirror reflection or exact opposite of the environment and culture of PYA.

While at PYA, I had lots of passion and vision for ways to reach and inspire the kids. I really felt I had a connection with some of them and the respect of most if not all of them. I felt like quitting the job was abandoning the kids – especially the ones who seemed to particularly be happy I was there.

What I heard most from the administration was, “You’re too friendly with the kids.” A close second was, “Too much positive feedback isn’t good for them.”

No, I’m not kidding.

Among my other goals there was to take a teaching position there. I’d always thought I’d be happiest at a private school where all the kids loved to learn and were well-behaved. I was never one of those people who took all their education classes (which I didn’t take – I’m not an education major) bright-eyed and dreaming of being in an urban school where they can’t afford things like books and toilet paper (in Detroit, where I’m from, recent headlines reported that students were asked to bring their own toilet paper). But I fell in love with the kids and classrooms at PYA.

The turnover for teachers is as high as it is for Youth Care Workers so I was just waiting for someone to quit or get fired. I feel like it was weakness on my part that I broke before that happened. I will always remember those kids and I hope I will remember to pray for them.

The Road To Teaching Part 12

Here’s the second Facebook note. I sent the two together in an email to my loved ones not on Facebook with the subject line “I Am Finally Proud of What I Do.” As it turns out, I did quit on them. I was the last new person of my training class but I did, in fact, walk out one day in the middle of a shift. As with everyone else I said “it wasn’t the kids.”

Front gate to all the jails for men, women and juveniles.

April 24, 2009
Something At Work That Almost Made Me Cry

“You’re not gonna to quit on us, too, are you Mr. Sprout?” – One of “my kids” upon hearing that yet another Youth Care Worker was leaving.

In the last week, two youth care workers quit and the best, most effective therapist got fired for questioning the system or some such nonsense. The turnover there is as high as I was told and whenever someone quits or talks about quitting they all say the same thing: “I love the kids but I just can’t work for this administration anymore.”

No, I won’t quit on them. A favorite quote comes to mind:

“While women weep, as they do now, I’ll fight; while children go hungry, as they do now I’ll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I’ll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I’ll fight, I’ll fight to the very end!” – William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army When searching for that quote so I could copy & paste it, I found this one, too: “It is against stupidity in every shape and form that we have to wage our eternal battle. But how can we wonder at the want of sense on the part of those who have had no advantages, when we see such plentiful absence of that commodity on the part of those who have had all the advantages?” – William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army.

The Road To Teaching Part 11

I briefly worked at Palmetto Youth Academy (PYA) in Palmetto, FL as a youth care worker. PYA is a maximum security juvenile detention facility for violent offenders. Not just drug-related offenses, for example, but drug-related (or unrelated) involving a firearm. The atmosphere was extremely negative, political, paranoid and hostile – and I’m talking about the staff and administration not the “violent juvenile offenders.” This entry and the next entry are two notes I wrote on my Facebook page about my experience at PYA.

After driving through the front gate of the complex, past two lines of razor wire and over a small bridge, Palmetto Youth Academy is inside yet another two razor wire fences.

April 6, 2009
Boys In Chains

Every day, my very, very, very claustrophobic wife asks how I can work behind so many locked doors, several fences topped with razor wire, etc. and I explain that sort of thing has never bothered me. If someone said I was going to be in solitary confinement for 13 months (and I’d done something to deserve it) I’d be fine with it. It’s like being trapped on a desert island except you get three meals a day and unlimited, undisturbed reading time. Yesterday, however, I had to transport a young man to a Department of Juvenile Justice place where he would be on his way home.

My nightmares involve being locked in places unable to get out – which is different. Small, confined places don’t bother me. If I were whisked away to Extraordinary Rendition somewhere and nobody knew where I was and I was being questioned for God Knows What … that would freak me out. Not the torture … the unknown factors … Remember Robert DeNiro in Awakenings? All he wanted to do was take a walk? THAT gave me nightmares. Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoos nest? Threatened with a lobotomy if he didn’t behave? That scares me.

That’s why I didn’t like getting high 20-25 years ago. I can sober up from alcohol INSTANTANEOUSLY … my buzzes are very fragile … my wife nagging me, me needing to do something important … but getting high? You can’t stop that until the weed decides you’re done. I don’t like that. Drugs are B-A-D.

Anyway, I digress. I had to lock a young man up in leg chains, wrist chains, and handcuffs yesterday for the journey to a different facility. I could feel myself … my eyes watering up … not cool. Then we get to the Department of Juvenile Justice place which is not a warm & fuzzy rehab, caring/loving, bedtime snacks and ice cream parties with Xbox night type of place (like PYA). I may have mentioned the other night a young man was packed to be released the NEXT DAY and the judge changed his mind? That messed with me. And while we were at the DJJ there was a paperwork mixup that almost sent the kid back to our facility instead of home. The look in his eyes … he looked like I felt. It all worked out. He may be home this very moment. At worst, he’s in a group home on his way there.

I shared all this with the fellow staff member I drove with. He said it was great I cared and had sympathy, blah blah blah but not to forget why these kids are there. He reminded me why they’re in a maximum security facility. “These are not good kids that got caught with a bag of weed,” he said. Not even selling a bag of weed. “These kids committed violent crimes with guns.” Armed robberies, taking a shotgun into a shopping mall in a moment of rage, hardcore gang/drug warfare etc.

I know all that. I know. But when they knock on their cell door at night to call and ask, “Mr. Sprout, can I have a drink of water?” that’s not what I see. When they ask on a Saturday afternoon, “It’s so boring in here, Mr. Sprout can you ask [the shift supervisor] if we can go out and play?” it doesn’t seem that way. Can I have a glass of water? Can we go out and play? These are the same kids that will sometimes say, “Bitch, if I ever see you on the outside…” and hold their hand like they’re pointing a gun at my head … or, if I’m intervening in an argument, “Get your f***ing hands off me before I flip your ass.” But they’re still just boys … younger than my oldest daughter …

Surreal. That’s how I would describe my job. It’s always like a dream. Sometimes nice, like during a Bible study when they’re more excited than you EVER see people actually in church because it’s all new to these kids … sometimes it’s like a nightmare like when you catch them in an office that was accidentally left open and two of them are on the phone. “I don’t think it’s your time for a phone call” gets answered with “How ’bout we jump you right here?” and you’re all alone. But, I must say, I love it. And I’ll trade it for living in a cubicle any day for the rest of my life.

This isn't the basketball court for PYA - it's the men's jail next to it - but the view is pretty much the same: guys playing basketball behind razor wire.

Graduation

Father Morgan, Bishop Somebody, and Cadet Jay Sprout during Commencement in May of 1987.

As you knelt before the bishop, you received a Bible and your diploma. The last ceremony you’d participate in as a cadet. It may seem sad but there are plenty other ceremonies you get as an alumnus.

School Ring Ceremony

Cadet Jay Sprout accepting his Howe Military School ring from the Bishop during the 1986/87 school year. Matthew McDonough is the cadet on the far right. Mr. Richard Piper is to the bishop's right.

What I remember most about Howe Military Academy were the traditions. The ceremonies that had been performed for over 100 years before I got there. The ring ceremony was one of the greatest. Equal to or greater than the Boar’s Head Dinner. It was a huge ball. Formal, elegant, wonderful. Each senior received their school ring from the bishop.

Howe does not not have mere “class rings” that look like ever other school’s class rings. These are unique rings worn by only those from Howe Military School. Each one the same except for the year on the side and your name engraved on the inside. If you see another alumnus wearing theirs by chance in an airport or some other chance meeting you know you have something in common with them that no one else shares.

I remember staring at Colonel Merritt’s every time I was near him. It was decades old and he’d never removed it. All the engravings were worn smooth by the years of his life. The ring was only recognizable by the faint details of St. James’ Chapel and the ring’s other defining characteristic – the rectangular onyx stone.

It’s a beautiful thing.

The ceremony was beautiful as was the location. I remember my Mom drove my girlfriend at the time to be my date. This was the girl I gave my virginity to with an AC/DC record (yes, a 33 1/3 vinyl LP) playing in the background. Wow. I lost my virginity to this girl and I haven’t spoken to her in 20+ years. Wow.

Facebook Groups

There’s HMS stuff on myspace, too, but I don’t use myspace so I can’t speak to that. Besides, the groups – which have actual discussions (unlike most facebook groups) – there is also an HMS Development profile you can befriend that I suspect is maintained by the spectacular Jean Miller, Director of Development.

There’s really no difference between them except for the discussion topics. Tell your friends – cyber and otherwise!

• Howe Military School
• Howe Military School Alumni
• The Alumni Club

Search for ‘em, join ‘em, and … I can’t think of a third thing …

The Road To Teaching Part 10

Yesterday (Saturday, December 20), I received a very nice “rejection” letter from Young Middle Magnet School. Honestly, I was flattered enough that I got an interview and am glad I have one under my belt.

Also in the mailbox was my Letter of Eligibility (yay!) from the Florida Department of Education!

Cross Country

Yesterday, I was covering the Manatee County (Florida) Cross Country Championships for a small, local newspaper (The North River News) and it brought back some really vivid memories. In fact, this nostalgia started early in the day when I was riding to work. It was in the low 40s and since I wasn’t in a car, I had quite a breeze on me. Cross Country was on my mind and I remembered the many, many mornings I had to get up at the crack of dawn and run – in a t-shirt and shorts – in the cold and, often, the rain. I ran as fast as I could just so I could cross the finish line and get back in the van.

I was there in time to catch the varsity girls’ and varsity boys’ teams. Watching the runners, I actually felt the excitement … so many runners and so many opportunities to pass just one more person. I wasn’t very fast so being 14th instead of 15th, for example, was a big deal to me. I was only Most Valuable and Captain because I was the only senior, I think. Actually, being a senior got me Captain but I may just have gotten Most Valuable because everyone else was even slower than me. Howe wasn’t exactly an athletic powerhouse. In fact, from what I hear, it isn’t now either.

That feeling of passing people, improving my time even a little bit and sprinting toward the finish … it got me as excited to start running again as putting together that 2008 Presidential Election Voter Guide got me excited about writing again (hence writing my first article for this local paper).

Kevin Beuret, Howe Military School Master

He has his own page now which contains this picture and content that I have copied without anyone’s permission. I hope I used “which” and “that” correctly – especially if he reads this.

The Kevin Beuret Page

- ESL Teacher
- B.A. English/French from the U of Saint Francis
- M.S. Secondary Education/English Endorsement from Indiana U

Mr. Beuret joined the staff of Howe Military School in August of 2008. He graduated from Auburn (Indiana) High School in 1963, and from Saint Francis College (now the University of Saint Francis) in Fort Wayne in 1967. For ten weeks following his graduation he worked in language and social programs under the aegis of Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia. After teaching fifth grade for a semester at Saint Joseph School in Decatur, Indiana, Mr. Beuret traveled to Australia as a Rotary Foundation Fellow, where he studied American literature, Australian literature, and literary theory and criticism at Monash University near Melbourne. He also lectured extensively to service clubs and schools in southeast Victoria on the U.S. Presidency and the American electoral process.

Returning to the United States after further travels across Asia and Europe, Mr. Beuret worked as an engineer and staff announcer at WIFF in Auburn, and as a feature writer for the Auburn Evening Star. In September of 1970 he began a 32-year career as a middle-school English teacher in the Lakeland School Corporation in LaGrange, Indiana, and completed his M.S. in secondary education at the Fort Wayne campus of Indiana University in the summer of 1974. From 2001 to 2004 he appeared as co-host on WNIT’s Dinner and a Book, and from 2002 to 2008 he tutored Latin and administered the NovaNet and English as a Second Language programs at Westview Junior-Senior High School in Topeka, Indiana.

Mr. Beuret’s interests include travel, cooking, reading, politics, bridge, and writing humorous poetry for his friends’ amusement. He lives in Howe with his two cats, Eleanor and Lucy.

My Grudge Against Thaddeus Flesch

My boss sent me to the Post Office yesterday to get four rolls of stamps. Rolls of stamps have always, ever since 8th grade, reminded me of what a selfish jerk Thaddeus Flesch is (he says, grinning good-naturedly). We were walking into the M Company dorm when he spied a roll of stamps on the ground.

Stamps are to cadets as cigarettes are to prison inmates. And Flesch just found, like, 100 or whatever comes in a roll.

Do you know how many he shared with me? None, that’s how many. And I think of that every time I even hear the term “roll of stamps.”

I think he even gave some to Forbes-Watkins which was like twisting the knife. Jerk.

Glenn Beck Commencement Speech at Howe Military School

I have had recurring dreams about Howe Military School for over 20 years. Sometimes they include real people, often the dream only takes place there. For some reason, many of these dreams involve me returning to school there now at my present age.

I often theorize what Howe represents in these dreams. An idealized place? Time? A concept or state of being? A spiritual state? An idealized version of myself I want to return to?

The night before last, I dreamed that Glenn Beck was giving the commencement address. At one point, I was driving in a car with him.

The dreams are always very cool and often fantastical like tales written by Robert E. Howard or J.K. Rowling.

I Am Such A Sellout

I am ashamed of my self-censorship. I made some of my most popular posts “private” so any prospective employers wouldn’t find any evidence that I’ve ever been less than perfect my entire life.

And, while thinking of Study Hall, I thought of two particular events I’ve always wanted to write about but haven’t because I was scared of prospective parents thinking they shouldn’t send their kids to Howe. I wouldn’t want anyone to think Howe and its students were less than perfect now or in the past.

Study Hall

Some buildings have a soul – or something like it. Even amongst churches … some feel sacred and holy and others do not … even among Catholic churches …

The Academic Building most definitely has a feeling like no other building and it is still there whenever I return. Superintendents and student bodies may change but that building … it remembers … it remembers a lot.

Every memory from Howe is still so vivid … I can remember how every room felt and smelled. The Study Hall in particular has many, many memories. I was a very young Christian … barely a few months old and reading this new magazine I’d discovered called The Plain Truth … and some other magazine from The Church of God. I was learning all about how the Catholic Church was the whore of Babylon and such. Jack Chick was another of my teachers. I hadn’t “met” Mr. Chick yet, but was introduced to Herbert Armstrong and The Church of God by my Spanish teacher. This same guy wouldn’t go to any services on campus and explained simply by saying, “I’m not Episcopalian .” He would, however answer any questions I had – even during class – about things like “Is my Social Security number the Mark of the Beast?”

I can remember looking forward to each new issue so I could learn what the headlines meant in the whole prophecy scheme of things. That’s one of my study hall memories. Leaning over one of those magazines at any given time.

The Teachers’ Lounge

The Teacher’s Lounge is becoming more mysterious. My wife says all teachers do in the teacher’s lounge is complain about students and their jobs. She says most public school employees are bitter, bitchy burnouts.

I don’t think I ever saw anyone in the teacher’s lounge at Howe. Odd. I do know there was a pop machine in it.

Learning To March

I’m watching Mr. Holland’s Opus for the 671st time – in particular, the scene where Mr. Holland is trying to teach his new marching band how to march. It’s amazing how difficult to teach and learn something as simple as walking can be. And that’s all marching is – walking with other other people. “Left, right, left, right …” and so on.

I remember learning to march and do things like “right face” or “column right.” I remember having to teach it a couple years later.

Then came the Air Force and doing the same thing.

Man … and all it is is walking …

The Road To Teaching Part 3

I couldn’t wait until the new semester started so I could begin teaching my class(es) at Monroe County Community College and subbing on the alternate days. My plans were dealt a blow when AT&T hired me for a two-year temp gig at $25/hour. It’s hard to sell your spouse and mother of your children on your low-paying dreams when an offer like that comes around. I was sure I’d figure something out, however. Perhaps I could find a full time job working midnights that would give us health benefits and I could still teach during the day … something!

All of these plans, dreams, and job searches were made possible by sudden unemployment, by the way – you need to know that for this next part. My wife’s grandfather gave us a house. In Florida. Florida is far away from any county in Michigan – even Monroe County. AT&T didn’t care as much about me leaving as the Dean of Students who felt I’d conned him somehow. I felt horrible even before his sour email. F

On the upside, I thought, Florida is very eager to get teachers… far moreso than Michigan. Education majors in Michigan quickly leave the state because Michigan continually fires teachers for lack of a budget. Florida is one of the states who take advantage of this by sending recruiters to Michigan.

I spent what seemed like weeks or months in the online application process sending transcripts, getting letters of recommendation, blah blah … and finally all I needed to do was get fingerprinted upon my arrival in Florida! They do fingerprinting once a week.

When I arrived in Florida, both my children had hand, foot, paw and claw in mouth disease or some such nastiness. So I spent the first week at home with them while Nikki worked at her brand new job (they came down a few weeks ahead of me). I missed the fingerprinting date my first week in Florida and by the time the next week rolled around, I’d found a job at Cruisin’ Style Magazine which – even before the three raises I’ve earned already – paid more than substitute teaching so my wife, again, convinced me that teaching would just have to wait …

The Road To Teaching Part 2

In the late months of 2007, I applied to Monroe County Community College for an Adjunct Professor position teaching Graphic Design. I taught for New Horizons and other agencies for just over four years teaching mostly Adobe and Macromedia products so this would be a no-brainer.

I interviewed with the Dean of Students and the senior instructor of that department. The down-side of this position would be it was only one class, perhaps two, and during the day. So it’s not like I could hold down a gainful full-time job during the day and teach in the evening. However, I was all oriented and fingerprinted to substitute teach in local public schools and could do that on the three days I wasn’t driving an hour one-way to teach my one class. I assured the Dean that I would work three fast food jobs around the clock for the opportunity to teach. “That’s how much this means to you?” he asked. Yes, I assured him I’d do anything to teach. So he turned down several other applicants and hired me. I was ecstatic.

The Road To Teaching Part 1

Most of my adult life, I have wanted nothing more than to teach high school English. Over time, I’ve also gotten an itch to teach History and, lately, I’ve really wanted to teach science or even math. There are many reasons I didn’t go to school for Education and as time went on I added “I’m too old” to those reasons. I actually thought to myself I had to be young and cool to be an effective teacher, somehow forgetting that Pagin taught for over 50 years … 60+ I think. Colville was equally “old” when he taught me English and Latin. Recently, as I’ve been actively pursuing my teaching certification at the ripe old age of 38, I’ve been thinking that as long as I’m teaching by the time I’m 40, I can feel good about it. But still, I think, I’ll never be able to return to Howe and teach – and that is the ideal ultimate dream for me.

Kevin Beuret, my friend and mentor who taught me English in 1985 at the Howe Military School summer camp just accepted a job at Howe Military School proper at the age of 63. My hope is now that it will only take me 20+ years to prove myself as a good enough teacher that Howe might hire me at 63. I would be happy with that. The biblical patriarchs were much older than that before they did anything significant with their lives which were, up until then, filled with failure and stupidity (much like my own).

Long before there was a Dead Poets Society or Harry Potter books, there was a tale of a teacher returning to his alma mater where he would teach a group of students that most had written off. They were somewhat of a special ed class. Much like the “Double D’s” (Dumb as dogs–t) group in the great teacher film Renaissance Man. This teacher was, himself, a part of this “lost cause” group and returned to be the father-figure and mentor they needed as much as he did. I hum the theme song to myself and daydream of a day I can do the same.

This song always chokes me up and makes me all misty eyed because it’s everything teaching would be to me.

Minimalist Theater

In a previous post, I wrote about my role in A Comedy of Errors my junior year and how we had to import female students from other schools for the female roles. Now that I think of it, if we really wanted to be Elizabethan about it, we should have just had male cadets dress up like girls. That would be a most interesting debate for the drama coach to have with the administration!

I imagine it will be much easier to get students to participate in theater now that there are girl cadets. Not only because I think girls might be more interested than your typical teenage boy but because teenage boys tend to be interested in participating in activities teenage girls are interested in. Or, at least, the teenage girls can be used as an excuse to allow themselves to profess a legitimate interest in those activities.

The next semester the director chose to do The Odd Couple based solely around me which was quite flattering. The interim superintendent, Father Ghallager, wanted to do Dracula for the same reason which was also pretty cool). As much as I wanted to do theater, I had to choose the Track team instead. I’m pretty sure the reason was I would have missed track meets because of rehearsal which would mean
and had to do intramural sports instead of being on a team which, though still not my preferred way to spend all that time, was infinitely better than the hell that this pseudo-gym class would have been. It’s so odd that they don’t allow push-ups as punishment now and – when I was there – a daily morning calisthenics program was canceled when kids complained to their parents who then complained to the school that their delicate little darlings were enduring such torture … and yet … they have this hellish intramural business.

Neither play had any budget, but The Odd Couple did have a set which was a vast improvement over A Comedy of Errors which didn’t have any. On my last visit to Howe, I looked dreamily around Bouton Auditorium wishing I could donate thousands to give them a state of the art lighting and sound system. Yes, I’ll add that do my list of things I’ll do when I donate my other millions of dollars.

All of this is on my mind because I’m very, very excited about the new ESL master who will also be involved in Howe’s drama programs – the legendary Kevin Beuret.

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.

Meet the New Boss

I can remember the first time I walked up to Echo Company as the new lieutenant. I was nervous and happy. My second in command guy really wanted me to give a hardcore speech to show them I was going to be tough and expect a lot of them, blah blah … he apparently thought they were slackers. I think I even gave them a stupid speech like that. I don’t know why that suddenly fills me with regret 22 years later. It certainly would be interesting to go back and try some experiments based on what I’ve studied of Management, Leadership, Organizational Development, etc.

Hmm…

In Delta, I felt very much a loner. I remember staying in my room a lot listening to music, reading, studying, cleaning … I became a much more social animal in Echo. Neither in my junior nor senior years did I feel like I was liked or accepted in Delta. Everytime I think of a reason for these feelings, I come up with reasons those feelings are stupid.

I definitely want to think a lot more about this.