Posted on 05/20/2012 6:28:09 PM PDT by Tennessean4Bush
Anyone who has been to military high school or sent a child to one, I'd like your opinion/thoughts.
My son will be entering his junior year in high school this fall. He has not fared well at all at the local public high school. Grades are bad, and he has not been able to make any friends much to speak of. He is a good kid, never a problem for us.
He has always wanted to make a career out of the military, in particular would love to go to the AF academy, or take some path where he could fly planes. He does okay on standardized tests, but he lacks the focus to get things turned in and keep up in class.
I have been looking at 3 schools in particular that are not too far from Knoxville: Camden Military School in SC, Fork Union Military School in VA, and Fishburne Military School in VA.
Fishburne is the most intriguing from the standpoint of being accepted to one of the academies for college. Apparently, they have a JROTC program with distinction and can nominate a cadet to an academy (as opposed to getting a Senator or someone to nominate you). Anyone who can shed some light on how big a deal that is your input will be appreciated.
Each one seems to have its strong points. I am leaning toward Fishburne but Mrs. T4B is leaning toward Fork Union.
My son is actually looking forward to it, believe it or not. I think he likes the military aspect of it all. Plus I think he will excel with the focus and motivation they have a way of pulling out of young men.
Again, any input will be appreciated. We are really out of our element on this one. I never served in the military, and never went to anything but a public school for that matter.
Thanks in advance. I just know that whenever there is anything about anything posted on FR there always are quite a few Freepers who happen to be experts, and hoping that proves to be the case here.
My son went to a military school run by the Louisiana National Guard for his remaining time in high school. He was 16 and only had to attend one 5 month session, and was able to get his GED. It did him a world of good, as he had been talking about going in the Marines, and this just solidified his decision when he turned 18. I know there are other military schools run by the different military branches, and I can’t see how a young man wouldn’t benefit from attending one of these schools.
Yep-—they threw out the Christian Paradigm which our military excelled under-—created the greatest soldiers in history— like Patton. Christian Ethics have been jettisoned—now Vice is promoted instead of Virtue. It is unconstitutional on many levels-—esp. since it violates the Laws of Nature and God’s Laws.
But Zero and the Democrats have thrown the Constitution under the bus.
This is probably a good route to take, especially if the grades in HS aren’t up to par. My grandson just went through the rigorous routine of getting a senator’s recommendation and his jr. high through high school grades were in the 98 percentile in the US. The competition is ferocious. The paperwork and interviews seemed never-ending. (2 year process) He was accepted to the Naval Academy on recommendation of Richard Lugar, was packing his bags, ready to go to med school last fall. He got a letter from the Academy saying even if they accepted him and he got his M.D., he couldn’t get a commission because they looked at his med report and he’s color blind. Navy doesn’t accept the color blind. So Lugar got him a commission offer from the Army to go to law school. He just finished his first semester at Purdue.
If your son doesn’t have the grades, then the military school may be what he needs to have opportunity to make up the grades. Again, competition is ferocious to get in.
I was at FUMA (Fork Union Military Academy) this morning. Our church is meeting in the gym for the next month or so. Beautiful campus, and the cadets are very respectful. A brand new dorm is being built, it is set to open up this summer. One of my Scouts went there last year and did him a world of good.
This is a dangerous time in the military, then, for soldiers.
Lots of parents have the same idea as you. Problem child. Send him away and let someone else deal with it. Now you've got your son with lots of exposure to all types of deviant and anti-social behavior, but no one who really cares about him.
If he's a poor student, anti-social, etc, at home, that's what he's going to be somewhere else.
If for some reason the high school academy doesn’t work out, consider JROTC through your local high school, or the Civil Air Patrol (which also has high acceptance rates to the service academies), the Coast Guard Auxiliary (must be 17 years old) or homeschooling.
Bravo to you for doing the right thing and getting your son out of the public high school.
Extremely dangerous. Glad my son was out by the time zero got in.
Machiavelli stated that Virtue was necessary for militaries. That is a simple fact that our Founders, like Washington, knew was extremely important. That is why Christian Ethics used to be the standard. Now, with the forcing of the idea that “sodomy is good”, we will no longer have reason, logic or Truth being taught in the military. We will have to “reeducate” Christian men and women—which is just like Mao did.
It totally transforms the American military to one not based on the God which gives us our Natural Rights.....There has never been a “right” to sodomy. It is a sick, stupid evil idea—an atheist/pagan/Marxist/Satanic idea.
I went to Admiral Farragut Academy for 4 years (class of ‘74). Went to Syracuse University and was able to skip most of my Freshman required courses because my HS was so far ahead of the public schools at the time.
About 1/3 of my class (total graduating class size of around 30) went on to Annapolis, Air Force Academy, CG Academy, etc.).
No regrets at all for having attended... actually I thank my lucky stars I attended.
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.
Btw, Camden feeds directly into The Citadel down in Charleston, S.C. and that is an excellent school. From what I’ve heard, it guarantees you a job in SC due to the extensive alumni network in the state.
Got a few friends there too if you want some input on that.
My brother graduated from the Citadel.
Others have summed up their experience similarly to how I will in adding my voice: I went to a military high school, by choice, and learned more useful things there in my few years than I did in university afterward. I’m glad I went.
I knew a family who sent their son to a military school for the last two years of high school. Kid was getting in trouble and looked to be headed for jail. He had been out of school for 2 years when I met him.
I asked him about it and he said he hated it and never wanted to go back. He ALSO said it was the best thing to happen to him at that time. When I asked him what he meant, he said he had now lived on the opposite extremes of two worlds and never wanted to return to either.
He’s been a successful family man last I heard (10 years after school).
I can’t speak to any of the military high schools you mentioned but I did enter the Air Force Acadmy in 1969. The degree to which any of those schools will help to prepare him probably depends on how much your son wants to apply himself. If he hopes to enter one of the military academies directly after high school he doesn’t have much time to get his grades up and improve his focus.
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.
My son attended FUMA (his choice!!!!) and it was absolutely the best decision we ever made. He was a very smart child, extremely no motivated where his work was concerned. This school teaches the one subject plan so for 7 weeks all you have to concentrate on is one subject! It is a fabulous learning model and his work ethic greatly increased. He loved the military aspect of it and they keep those boys busy busy busy! My son played football and track. I got to know the staff very personally and I was proud they had influence on my son. He graduated, loves it to this day, swears he will be back one day after career to do something! He was accepted to the Citadel after going to FUMA so I would have to say it was very successful. I love FUMA and would never hesitate to send a boy there.
As for gaining admission to our nation’s military academies, it is hard to beat Fork Union Military Academy. I recall that the Class of 2008 had 7 cadets earn 9 appointments to the academies (including Air Force, Navy, Army, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine). And a total of 23 seniors (out of about 97 graduating) earned full academic scholarships to college. Combining academic and athletic scholarships, the class earned over $9 million in scholarships to college that one year.
Check out this photo of Fork Union Military Academy alumni meeting up at this past December’s Army-Navy football game. Two FUMA guys at Army weren’t in the picture because one was playing on the Army football team and the other was at basketball practice for the Army basketball team.
I’m pretty sure you won’t find many high schools in the nation with this many students enrolled in the service academies at one time.
Plus, FUMA’s president retired last year from the U. S. Coast Guard where he was the superintendent of the U. S. Coast Guard Academy.
They do their best but adults aren’t always around and these boys will find a way to get to you if you make em mad.
Here’s how it really works: Each company has an intense rivalry with all of the other companies except for Band and Staff which are universally frowned upon. You pick a fight with a guy from another company, you will encounter some form of retribution from the guy’s company.
In regards to fights within the company: Boxing matches were a regular event within the company when the sergeant major wasn’t around and fights happen generally every week or so. You get caught boxing, however, and you’ll wish you were dead.
Maybe they cleaned shop after I left but it was a rough place when I was there. Then again, I didn’t back down from any kid so I probably had more than my fair share haha.
A candid example of the “roughness” of the kids: About midway through my first semester a kid got his butt whupped (unfairly I might add). He then went to his room and started making a shank. We had to wrestle him down and take it from him before he did some serious damage. This kid was mentally unstable and was almost always in some form of trouble.
Another example: I was participating in an company event called a SMI (Saturday Morning Inspection) on a Friday night. I was sitting in the hallway polishing my shoes when I got cold cocked by a large individual. The fight lasted about 30 seconds and by the end of it the “kid” told me to watch my back because “I got it coming”. I had never spoken to him before this event. Never had any interaction ever. He was later expelled for filming a beat down of a kid and laughing while stomping on his head.
As I said: It’s a rough place filled with rough kids and while the Sergeant Majors, etc. do an EXCELLENT job of keeping order they ain’t around 24/7. I will say they are quick to break up fights and they do their best to make sure everyone is safe but you’re dealing with future inmates here.
I know you love you son, please dont send him to Camden Military Academy. Black-Shark is totally right... this is not the place any child should be. You will be shown one face of the school, administration, cadets and your child will be shown a very different one. Dont take my word for this, please research this school, go out to the Internet and see what is going on there. Here is a must see link if you are thinking about sending your child to CMA.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/teen-alleges-rape-beatings-starvation-military-sch/nNPmZ/
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