I attended Camden Military Academy from 2006-2007 (Junior Year of High School) and know all of the officers and administrators quite well.
Some background: I just graduated with honors from NC State with a B.S. - Economics and am starting my Masters in Economics Monday at NC State.
My view on Camden: It is a horrible school academically and is really only for troubled children. I went due to respect issues with my parents (no legal issues, just the typical backtalk, yada yada) yet I was always an AP/Honors student and always achieved high grades before and after the “Camden experience”. I slept through most of my Camden classes and made A’s in all of them.
Due to the fact that I had no behavior issues and performed very well academically and athletically I was left alone for the most part by the officers.
The other kids, however, that’s a whole nother story. I WOULD NOT send your kid there if he can’t handle himself in a fight. My father said that the one good thing that came out of Camden was that I learned how to fight/defend myself. This especially holds true if the kid is like me: smart, athletic (Captain and MVP of both Varsity Tennis and Varsity XC) and confident. I equate it to a jail type of environment. You piss off the wrong guy, you’re going to either get A) jumped and put in the hospital or B) something much worse and end up in the hospital. The kids there are that rough.
From what I’ve heard of the other schools, they are all the similar.
However, I gained a healthy new respect for my parents and it turned me from a boy into a man. Plus, I learned how to take care of myself in a good scrap :D
PM me if you would like names of the adult officers/administrators who I found made an impact.
The other kids, however, that’s a whole nother story. I WOULD NOT send your kid there if he can’t handle himself in a fight.Really? This is surprising to me. I asked specifically about this and was assured that fights were rare and that all the boys tended to look out for each other, especially if in the same group.