In the first half of the 20th century, a boy going to military school was looked at as a prestigious thing. Afterall, this was most likely going to be his head start on a brilliant military career. And if he didn’t decide to pursue a career in the military, at least he would come out a more disciplined man.
Flash forward to the Viet Nam era when public opinion began changing about the military. Thanks to nightly news footage beaming scenes from the Vietnam war into people’s living rooms, they began to look at the military as a bad thing. To make matters worse, judges were letting some people charged with crimes choose between going to jail and going to Vietnam. The optics were bad.
That same attitude transitioned to how people viewed military schools as well. Folks began sending their troubled teens to military school in hopes that it would change their trajectory in life. Many of the wayward teenagers did adopt the discipline and knowledge gained from a military themed education, but many others were kicked out of school and parents lost tuition money.
Flash forward to today, the 50 year old belief that military school is a form of punishment still exists. Parents threaten their kids that if they don’t behave they will be sent to military school. The irony is that sending them there may be the best favor any parent can do. Military school graduates are often accepted at the best civilian and military colleges in the country and go on to lead healthy and fruitful lives.
Military school today is a college preparatory environment which also offers a rounded education and measure of discipline which can be utilized by young men not looking to go to college and instead plan on joining the national workforce. In fact, your humble author went attended military school and graduated 30 years ago next month.
