The American Pre-College Military School

Book excerpt: Both a history of the pre-college military school in the United States and a reference guide to the institutions past and present, this comprehensive work begins by discussing several notable military school founders, including Southern Industrial Institute founder Rev. Lyman Ward, New York Military Academy founder Charles Jefferson Wright, and St. John’s Military Academy founder Sidney Thomas Smythe, among others. It discusses the role of religious organizations in founding and maintaining military institutions, as well as a range of other topics: faculties and administrators; curricular changes and innovations since the 19th century; escalating tuition costs and the role of money in determining a school’s success or failure; and the future of the pre-college military school. A second part lists some 355 individual schools and summarizes the history of each, providing details on enrollments and tuitions.