I think the academies offer more than STEM education. The curriculum includes military history, discipline, and espirit de corps, amongst other training not available in a public university.
There will always be idiots. I do not think we should shut down the intituions because of them.
Read the article.
The days of a military education and engineering degrees has been adapted to females, so now a lot of meaningless, non-military courses are offered to make it easier for the girls.
Their education is top notch. But it is not unique. That could be replicated in a lot of places.
What they provide is a controlled pressure environment unlike most any other educational institution. The focus on the corps, and the mission are unlike what you would find at an Ivy League school. The result is a highly educated, motivated, and mission oriented leader. Of course, they are still Lts and need “real world experience” to blossom.
Does the country need this? I believe it does. Is this same experience available at the major military universities? For the most part. But their focus has mostly been on the “Citizen Soldier” which has a strong military environment but is not tied directly to any one of the particular services.
As the product of one of those schools, i can attest that I graduated better prepared to be a leader than most of the people I met in the workplace. Of course, within a short time, all of that equalizes and the individual traits start to take over. But it was a great foundation.
Military colleges are not for everyone. I would spend as much time telling a high school senior about what they “give up” by going there. It is not a typical college experience. But if you DO go, the experience is something you will fall back on your entire life.