Military Academy - Pre-collegiate Institutions

Pre-collegiate Institutions

A military school teaches various ages (middle school, high school, or both) in a manner that includes military traditions and training in military subjects. The vast majority are in the United States and Russia. Many military schools are also boarding schools, and others are simply magnet schools in a larger school system. Many are privately run institutions, though some are public and are run by either a public school system (such as the Chicago Public Schools), or by a state.

A common misconception results because some states have chosen to house their child criminal populations in higher-security boarding schools that are run in a manner similar to military boarding schools. These are also called reform schools, and are functionally a combination of school and prison. They attempt to emulate the high standards of established military boarding schools in the hope that a strict structured environment can reform these children. This may or may not be true. However, this should not reflect on the long and distinguished history of military schools; their associations are traditionally those of high academic achievement, with solid college preparatory curricula, schooling in the military arts, and considerably esteemed graduates.

Popular culture sometimes shows parents sending or threatening to send unruly children off to military school (or boarding school) to teach them good behavior (e.g., in the "Army of One" episode of The Sopranos, Tony and Carmela Soprano consider sending their son, AJ, to the Hudson Military Institute after AJ is expelled from high school but relent when AJ collapses from a panic attack).