In the world, many countries have their own military academies with a long history and outstanding reputation, such as the famous Sandhurst Military Academy in Britain, the Saint Cyril Military Academy in France, and the Japan Self-Defense Force Academy. But unlike them, West Point Military Academy is more like a university, which not only has a standardized four-year academic system, but also attaches great importance to ordinary university-style culture and academic education other than military training.
The educational goal advertised by West Point Military Academy is not only to train first-class officers, but also to train first-class college students into "all-rounders" in the future.
Military academy students spend two semesters a year, mainly studying the usual university academic and cultural courses, supplemented by military training and physical education class. During the summer vacation, most of them are engaged in military training and off-campus activities, such as internships in American government agencies and study abroad. As an integral part of military training, military cadets should also study military psychology, human behavior and military strategy and tactics to cultivate their leadership, organizational ability and military talent.
Unlike ordinary universities, West Point Military Academy has only undergraduate education and no graduate school. The postgraduate education of the US military is completed by the respective "War Colleges" of the Army, Navy and Air Force, the Logistics and Command College of the US Staff, other government training institutions and the National Defense University in Washington. The "War College" of the three services of the US military generally trains middle-level officers (from captain to lieutenant colonel) according to their qualifications for future promotion. There are also many middle-level officers who go to graduate schools of better universities to study for graduate students (masters or even doctors). Many of them go to school at public expense nearby.
There is no college under West Point Military Academy, but several departments organize teaching. At present, there are thirteen departments of literature, science and engineering engaged in academic and cultural education in military schools, and eight of these thirteen departments are science and engineering. The five departments of liberal arts are: Social Science Department (teaching political science, international relations and economics), History Department, English Department, Foreign Languages Department and Law Department.
& lt 1933 onwards, graduates of West Point Military Academy can not only obtain the rank of warrant officer of the US military, but also obtain a bachelor's degree (BS) from West Point Military Academy. Under normal circumstances, a military school student has to take five courses each semester, plus compulsory physical education class and military courses, as well as frequent drills, trips, military parades and various prescribed group activities, and has little leisure time every week. If summer vacation and winter vacation are not used, it is difficult for students to complete all the credit requirements of all courses within four years. /kloc-In the mid-9th century, the academic system of West Point Military Academy was once extended to five years. However, starting from 186 1, West Point has implemented a standard four-year academic system. During World War I and World War II, the academic system of West Point Military Academy was once reduced to three or even two years for the urgent need of front officers.
When studying military theory, military students should read On War by clausewitz, a modern German military theorist, and The Art of War by Sun Tzu, an ancient China. When studying the theory of guerrilla warfare, Mao Zedong's theory and practice of guerrilla warfare and "people's war" are generally mentioned. After "September 1 1", West Point Military Academy opened the "Anti-terrorism" course with the times. In February 2003, the Department of Social Sciences set up a new "Counter-Terrorism Center", with a retired army general as the director and an instructor with a doctorate as the project leader, specializing in the teaching and research of anti-terrorism courses.
For a long time after its establishment, West Point Military Academy has been dominated by science and engineering, supplemented by liberal arts. In recent years, social science and humanities have gradually become popular. By 2002, the majors of international relations and economics in the Department of Social Sciences had become the two majors with the largest number of students in West Point Military Academy. Most of the best graduates study social sciences. This strong tendency of "internationalization" and "economization" is related to the fact that many retired West Point people are engaged in politics and business. & ltBR & gt& ltBR & gt is holding a book in his left hand and saluting with his right hand.
Small class teaching system is widely practiced in West Point Military Academy. An instructor has only a dozen or twenty students in a class. Even the compulsory basic courses in the whole school are taught in small classes. Under the organization of a course convener, a group of instructors collectively design the teaching syllabus, reading list, class schedule and test questions, and then teach three or four small classes each semester. At West Point Military Academy, I taught four small classes in this collective teaching mode for one semester-a compulsory course of international relations for all third-year students. Later, he also taught an elective course (East Asian Politics) and a course "Advanced International Relations" specially designed for 5% excellent military students, both of which were taught in small classes. This very "extravagant" teacher-student ratio is very beneficial to the quality of teaching, which is difficult for ordinary universities in the United States, even the most famous universities. Small class teaching and close communication between teachers and students is a tradition of West Point Military Academy, which makes West Point people deeply proud.
The classrooms in military schools are also designed to teach in small classes, mainly small classrooms. There are also several auditoriums for hundreds or even thousands of students to attend classes together. Students usually have to run around the campus to catch up with the courses. Every class is only ten minutes short, so students are often seen trotting all the way, running from one teaching building to another like the tide. Almost all of them left handbags or books (because backpacks are generally not allowed) so that they could always leave their right hands to salute the officers and senior students they met. On both sides of the corridor, there are rows of coat hooks. Military cadets must hang windbreakers, coats and military caps on their bodies before entering the classroom. Unlike ordinary American universities, military students are not allowed to eat and drink in the classroom. West Point Military Academy is only decorated with unique pictures of West Point, but most classrooms are not as full of propaganda materials as outsiders think. The equipment, map sand table and electronic simulation equipment of science and engineering and military training laboratories at West Point Military Academy are all first-class in the United States.
The library of West Point Military Academy has a history of 200 years. The current library was built more than 70 years ago, and now it has more than 600,000 books and 1300 publications. Although the number is not very large, it is very distinctive. Because the museum has a long history, many private donations and special information sources, there are many precious historical books and cultural relics in the museum, including some books, calligraphy and paintings and maps of other countries captured by the US military in various wars. Many trophies have been closed to the public, and students must get approval to watch them. On the second floor of the West Point Military Academy Library, there is also a special reading room, which displays a large number of manuscripts donated to the West Point Military Academy by the descendants of the famous American novelist Faulkner. For me who is engaged in the study of contemporary international issues, although the West Point Library is not large enough and comprehensive enough, it is quite enough for a good undergraduate education. For those who study American history, especially American military history, West Point Library is a veritable treasure.
The textbook fees of students in West Point Military Academy are paid by the monthly fees issued by the state. In addition to the basic courses of team teaching, instructors can specify their own teaching books, which are then purchased by the bookstore of military academy students and then purchased by students. This bookstore is very much like a student bookstore in an ordinary university: besides textbooks, there are other students' books, stationery and many expensive souvenirs of our school.
Students at West Point Military Academy must study foreign languages for at least one year. Of the seven languages in the Foreign Languages Department of the Military Academy, only five (French, German, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese) have their own majors. The teaching of the other two languages, Chinese and Arabic, can only be combined with another foreign language into a professional direction because of its small scale.
Employment choice of graduates
Graduates of West Point Military Academy can choose which arms to work in according to their graduation ranking. It is said that some excellent American officers will make special contributions to the army in the future, and they will also be treated as "all the work of the army is up to you".
The army, navy and air force of the US Army, together with the smaller Marine Corps and Coast Guard, constitute the five major services of the US Armed Forces. American officers are very professional soldiers. Their positions and job transfers in the army are very frequent, which is determined by various personnel promotion systems and work needs. There are often lucky officers who are "fancy" by a senior general or even a senior civilian leader, who do not follow the routine, skip classes or even be promoted by helicopter. The famous examples in the US military are far from General Eisenhower in those days, but also the recent former US Secretary of State General Haig and the current Secretary of State General Powell. Although an officer's first job in the army will not remain unchanged for life in the future, his subsequent opportunities, achievements and achievements depend largely on this position. Choosing a job for the first time after graduation is still very important for professional officers who graduated from West Point Military Academy.
Officers and even soldiers of various services and arms of the US Army will generally maintain their original identities no matter where they are sent to perform "temporary" tasks. Therefore, the military instructors who teach at West Point Military Academy and other military academies, the staff of the Pentagon, the military assistants of civilian heads of various departments of the US government, and the military attaché s of American embassies in foreign countries have always retained their original identities as arms. However, in the army, it is said that an army officer must have served in several basic combat arms of the army-infantry, artillery, armored air force, special forces and air defense units. If he wants to be promoted to the highest rank of the army, that is, a four-star general (the US military only established the rank of a five-star general in World War II), a corps and theater commander, the highest head of the army, that is, the chief of staff of the army, and then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States. Among them, the three "firewire soldiers"-infantry, armored forces and special forces-are the traditional souls of the army. Officers who chose to serve in non-combat arms probably never wanted or expected to be marshals. Therefore, all combat arms are generally favored by graduates of West Point Military Academy. The arms that the graduates of West Point Military Academy don't want to go to are the ammunition soldiers in the three services, especially the chemical soldiers in the ammunition soldiers.
However, most graduates of West Point Military Academy also understand that only a few soldiers will eventually become marshals after joining the army for a lifetime. Similar to other college graduates when choosing a job, salary, job nature, safety and comfort, and future prospects after retirement are all things they should consider. For many officers who don't want or expect to be marshals, being a military doctor and a military medical researcher is a good career, because in the United States, doctors, including dentists, have always been stable and well-paid. Similarly, becoming a military lawyer and an information warfare officer also indicates a good employment prospect in the high-paying legal and IT industries in the future. Being an engineer and logistics quartermaster can also lay the foundation for finding a good job after retirement. Many large arms manufacturers in the United States, including famous companies such as General Motors Ford, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Lockheed and Boeing Aircraft, have always had a "tradition" of hiring a large number of retired logistics and ordnance officers, which is beneficial for companies to better deal with the military.
Over the years, the most popular choices for top graduates of West Point Military Academy are generally those arms that can obtain specialized knowledge, skills, experience and resumes. Aviation, sending military doctors to medical schools (fewer places), sending military lawyers to law schools (fewer places), signal soldiers and intelligence soldiers have become the first choice for West Point graduates. A little, an engineer. The influence of the mainstream value orientation of American social economy and culture on the job selection of West Point graduates can also be seen clearly here.