Military Schools Benefits

• Highly structured environment that can help channel the unfocused energies of an underachieving adolescent
• Physical fitness emphasized, which can be useful for teens parents consider to be "couch potatoes"
• Stringent, highly traditional academic program
• Positive peer environment enforced through honor code

Who are military schools for?

Students who succeed in the military school environment tend to be under-performing academically (below potential) due to issues other than learning challenges or disabilities. In other words, students who have developed poor study habits or have lost interest in school, but do not have underlying learning challenges such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Parents often send teens who have started to act out behaviorally. Maybe the child keeps missing curfew, argues about every rule, and seems to be drifting and unfocused. These are not teens with ingrained behavioral problems or issues such as depression or very low self-esteem.

Students who do well in military school generally are at least somewhat self-motivated to succeed and do attempt to contribute to their own success. Students who are extremely willful, who disregard all rules, and do nothing to promote their own success will likely have a very difficult time in military schools.

More on students for whom this choice may not be appropriate...

Fast Facts About Adolescents

Compared with other age groups, teens have the lowest rate of seat belt use. In 2005, 10 percent of high school students reported they rarely or never wear seat belts when riding with someone else. Male high school students (12.5%) were more likely than female students (7.8%) to rarely or never wear seat belts.