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.
I was an unmotivated student and chose to go to military school, hoping they’d be able to make me a better student. External motivation only goes so far. If you don’t want to study there’s not much anyone can do until that changes. My school required you sit at the desk evenings with study books open. That didn’t mean they could make you read them. Get what I’m saying?
Our youngest son spent a year at Admiral Farragut Academy. Essentially it was a repeat of his senior year in a public high school.
He was found to be dyslectic when he went into high school, and altho dyslectics have their own interesting way of seeing things, it is not the norm of other kids. This was a boy who never gave us a problem and was a happy kid, but a solid D student. Because he wasn’t a problem in school either, he wasn’t singled out for special help in this school — which BTW is in the top 10 schools in this state.
But at Farragut Academy, because of the smaller classes and adherance to routine and order, he not only prospered, but ended up on the honor role — in only one year!!
He went on to college, got an Associates Degree, then a BS and then a few years later, a Masters. He is now 50 and is a success in whatever he does.
We truely feel that Farragut Academy was a deciding factor in his life.
Hope this helps.
If you know Riverside; you know Brenau Acaqdmy which I attended.
My hubby went to FUMA (Fork Union). I sent you a private message with my thoughts, I’ll let you know what dear hubby’s thoughts are tomorrow, when he’s awake to answer questions...if I asked him right now, I’d either get snores and mumbles, or worse, he’d start speaking nonsense about the last thoughts he had before falling asleep...and as we watched an old episode of Man Vs Food on Netflix... I’d probably hear about eating 10 lb cheeseburgers...YUCK! :P
Thanks for your input. How hard was it to get into the Naval Academy? Did FUMA help you get an interview or do anything special for you to help you get accepted?
Should have mentioned in public that his experiences at FUMA were all very positive. :)
Glorified reform school. Give him a lifelong appreciation for reform school girls!
My daughter went to Culver Academy (Culver Indiana) which operates on a military model for boys and a prefect system for girls. You’ll never hear a bad word about it from me. Boys showed my daughter and me real respect and their record on military academy admissions is good. Being there for only two years instead of four was not a problem.
Had a boyfriend once that graduated from this one:
He loved it. He graduated in 1985? I often wonder where he is now.
Our son in law attended Fork Union. He speaks highly of the school and faculty. I have pinged our daughter, she can ask him any questions you might have.
a few thoughts
Being a pilot, is not what we think any more. He may have the opportunity to fly f22/35 the 18/16/15 are going to be harder to find. Uav drivers are not pilots. If he wants adventure, he needs to get on the net and learn as much math as he can take. Pilots 10 years out are the guys proving the next gen platforms. naval 6th gen opt/piloted systems (bombers carrier) requirement for deployment ‘25-30 were just released to industry. Any one looking to have the gov spend 2.5-4mil on their ed, needs to come in with basically a good understanding aerodynamic, and electro/magnetism.
The next 2 years are screwed, have him get solo qualified, and get an associates degree in aerodynamics.
Look for opportunities in the aerospace industry, for intern work.
The next set of flyboys will be more like our test pilots as they will be the last persons to occupy a cockpit.
My wife taught at one. The discipline is better. You might talk to them about providing tutoring for him to bring his skills up. Once a kid gets behind, it is almost impossible to catch them back up without a little help. I learned that through my own public school experience, short lived as it was. Some years later I ran into an old black guy who was a retired school teacher. In a matter of months, he taught me everything I failed to learn from the 1st grade to the 10th. Had I known what he taught me, I would have made A’s in school, as I did later in college.
LOL I just pinged you to this thread.
Graduated from Valley Forge myself...class of ‘88. School is definitely not what it once was. Gen Baker is probably spinning his grave. Not sure if the current experience justifies the astronomical tuition.
Went to Culver Military Academy, graduated a 2nd Lt. (1 grade from highest rank possible due to my being there only my last 2 years) in ‘63, best decision of my life after becoming a Christian 4 years later and choosing my wife. Culver is one of the top 5 academic schools in the nation, and when I was there Culver got to send two grads to each service academy each year WITHOUT congressional appointment because their academic and military standards were so high. I was pressured to take one of the non-sponsored slots and go to Anapolis, but decided against it - perhaps the biggest mistake of my life.
Big thing here was I chose to go to Culver, and wasn’t sent by my parents. They SENT my brother against his will after me, he hated it and did terribly. DON’T send your son there unless he is in agreement. Then it will be fantastic.
As Culver has since become an elitist school only for the super-rich (my parents were NOT, tho it was expensive then), and very humanistic in it’s world view and teaching, I’d chose Fork Union - a Christian school that has changed hundreds of lives, if not thousands. I’ve known staff there, and students - it’s not far from where I live. I could not recommend it more.....
I know nothing about these schools, but you can use the Internet to help you “vet” them. Google the name of each school and then all the worst terms you can think of, such as “rape,” “bullying,” “hazing,” etc. This may help you turn up candid discussions of the schools on various Internet forums. Then turn it around and google the names of the schools (one at a time, of course) with good terms such as “great,” “outstanding,” and neutral key terms such as “teachers,” “administration,” etc.
I did a search of this kind on my son’s opthalmologist when we were contemplating having him do surgery. (I asked around at our HMO but only got the party line of “oh yeah, he’s great.”) And what I found out, much to my relief, was that he was the best pediatric opthalmologist in our whole area and an expert at the kind of surgery we were looking at. (And he did an outstanding job on the surgery, too!)
Anyway, you can play detective and turn up all sorts of interesting things on the Internet if you have time to snoop around and are motivated.
Try Sylvan Learning Center. My youngest almost failed 6th grade so I sent him for evaluation, motivation and to learn study skills. Perfect in JH & AP in HS 4.25 GPA Graduate of UCSB.
Just take it one step at a time. There are so many amazing jobs in the military. Keep an open mind. And good luck.
I know a few people who went to the Naval Academy.
I was a Sonar Technician on USS Francis Scott Key (SSBN-657) from 1984 to 1989. Gold crew.
The boat carried 16 Trident I SLBMs.
8 W76 (100kt) warheads per missile.
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