The Myth of Military Schools

Parents often inaccurately portray misconceptions about military schools, threatening to send their misbehaving children off to school to scare them into getting their acts together. The mainstream media has done this as well since the 1960s, creating an attitude that it was "socially uncool" to be at a military school during the wake of the Vietnam War. Lon interviewed Al Heminger on Parent Choices for Struggling Teens, who discussed dispelling the common myths of military schools and the visions of a boot camp setting with yelling and screaming by some very large drill sergeant. Al is the Director of Admissions for the Howe School in Howe, IN as well as the Head Coach of the Football team.

The Howe School is a small, co-ed, residential boarding school that follows a military model focusing on academics, athletics and leadership development. Through three major steps: character development, knowledge and application, this 127-year-old program works with "bright but lazy or underachieving students" by putting them in positions of leadership, holding them accountable and assisting them with mentorship. These are the building blocks of their leadership structure. Al shared that many times "alumni will call and talk about the advantage they had going into college, not just with academics, which Howe takes very seriously, but with leading their peers, whether in the dorms or classroom. These are the precision leadership skills that will make them successful."

By working on time management, study skills, 'getting the work done' and focusing on academics, a military school can be another option or step-down school for a student that has successfully completed a wilderness program or therapeutic boarding school. Because a military school offers structure and predictability, a student who is struggling with leadership will receive "a lot of time and experience leading peers," in addition, for those needing structured discipline, a merit/demerit system will teach students to do the right thing and to be a good person� "a natural cause and effect."

To listen to the full interview go to: The Myth of Military Schools on LATalkRadio.
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Lon Woodbury is the owner/founder of Woodbury Reports Inc. and www.strugglingteens.com. He has worked with families and struggling teens since 1984 and is the host of Parent Choices for Struggling Teens on LATalkRadio Mondays at 12:00pm, Pacific Time, Channel One.

Al Heminger is the Director of Admissions and Head Football Coach at The Howe School located in Howe, IN and has worked with them since 2009. Prior to Howe School, Al was a public school teacher in Virginia, taught college courses at Olivet College and Liberty University, holds a certificate as a athletic trainer (ATC) and has worked with several professional teams, in addition to serving as the Assistant Athletic Trainer at both Olivet and Liberty. Mr. Heminger holds a BS from Manchester College in Athletic Training and a MS in Sport and Exercise Psychology from the University of Idaho.