Militarizing the Chicago public schools

It appears that the City of Chicago is turning some of it's public schools into military academies run by regular members of the U.S. armed services.

In a controversial new program, the city of Chicago has opened five public schools since 1999 based on a military academy model. Over 10,000 students attend the schools, which offer college preparatory courses combined with a military curriculum.

According to the Chicago Tribune, "military personnel work at the schools as teachers and administrators, and all academy students must enlist in the Junior ROTC, wear a military uniform and take a daily ROTC course that includes lessons on leadership, character development, drug prevention and military history."

Former army officer Paul Stroh, now principal of the Marine Military Academy, told PBS that the school's aim is to produce graduates who will become leaders of their communities. Parents interviewed by PBS agreed that the school gives their children special opportunities to succeed, while the students described the chance to take on leadership roles as "really cool."

Now, there's a lot to be said about the benefits of military-style discipline in a school setting, and I suspect many, perhaps most, of these kids will come out of these schools both better educated and better motivated and with far better leadership skills than their counterparts attending the crumby, filthy, demoralizing institutions that pass as the average public high schools. Still, I have deep misgivings about the direct links to the actual military that they're talking about here. It seems to me that we would do a whole lot better using military-style discipline without emphasizing the war-making aspects of the military in high schools.