# Question for people who have attended or worked at a military school **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 16, 2018, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-have-attended-or-worked-at-a-military-school/816223 "2018-06-16T21:46:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2018, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-have-attended-or-worked-at-a-military-school/816223/1 "2018-06-16T21:46:23Z")
OK, on another board, we’re talking about a certain orange-complexioned president who went to military school, and several of the posters are skeptical that art (as in painting, sculpture, and specifically calligraphy) is taught at these facilities. While I know very little about these places, I just can’t think of any reason why it wouldn’t be offered, or even mandatory at least in the earlier grades. So, please confirm or deny that it’s part of the curriculum. I mean, why shouldn’t military school graduates be well-rounded (or, as an old friend of mine used to say, “I don’t want to be well-rounded. I want to be a dodecahedron.” 😛 ) ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2018, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-have-attended-or-worked-at-a-military-school/816223/2 "2018-06-16T21:51:59Z")
The Royal Military College of Canada does not teach any of those subjects to the best of my knowledge, unless they have added it since 2009. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2018, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-have-attended-or-worked-at-a-military-school/816223/3 "2018-06-16T21:54:37Z")
Donald Trump attended New York Military Academy, which is now closed. However Valley Forge Military Academy is a similar school and is relatively close. Its website says, “Juniors and Seniors take upper level courses in all subjects, with advanced electives available in Art and Music.” ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2018, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-have-attended-or-worked-at-a-military-school/816223/4 "2018-06-16T22:00:41Z")
I was in the Corps at Texas A&M which is similar to being in a military school. All our courses were a function of the university. FWIIW my degree is Anthropology which is a liberal arts degree. AFAIK there were no art courses due to no art degree being offered there. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2018, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-have-attended-or-worked-at-a-military-school/816223/5 "2018-06-16T22:08:33Z")
Trump’s specific school currently states they are “chartered by and registered with the New York State Education Department.” ([Cite](https://www.nyma.org/about/accreditation-affiliations/#accreditation-5b25875b44444)) NY State Ed Dept specifies art and music requirements for elementary and middle school on a [page](http://www.p12.nysed.gov/nonpub/manualfornewadministratorsofnps/statereqs.html) for nonpublic schools. ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2018, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-have-attended-or-worked-at-a-military-school/816223/6 "2018-06-17T02:07:08Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Donald Trump attended New York Military Academy, which is now closed. NYMA has gone bankrupt (twice, I think) but was bought in 2015 by The Research Center on Natural Conservation, whose president is Vincent Tianquan Mo, of China and Great Neck, NY, the founder and chairman of SouFun Holdings. Sixteen students graduated this past week. ---
**Author:** ![Lips\_Obsession](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bbce88/32.png) [@Lips\_Obsession](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lips_Obsession)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-have-attended-or-worked-at-a-military-school/816223/7 "2018-06-18T20:10:10Z")
I attended a military high school in Illinois and art was certainly offered as an elective at the time I attended in the 1980’s… ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-have-attended-or-worked-at-a-military-school/816223/8 "2018-06-18T20:42:14Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > I was in the Corps at Texas A&M which is similar to being in a military school. All our courses were a function of the university. FWIIW my degree is Anthropology which is a liberal arts degree. AFAIK there were no art courses due to no art degree being offered there. Texas A & M does offer a degree in [Dance Science](http://majors.tamu.edu/index.php/site/information/39) and [Performance Studies](http://majors.tamu.edu/index.php/site/information/72), although A&M is a university rather than the military high school Trump attended (he went to Univ. of Pennsylvania/Wharton for undergrad.) ---
**Author:** ![motu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/motu/32/259_2.png) [@motu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motu)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-have-attended-or-worked-at-a-military-school/816223/9 "2018-06-18T21:24:06Z")
> [@Lips\_Obsession](#): > > I attended a military high school in Illinois and art was certainly offered as an elective at the time I attended in the 1980’s… I second this, I took an Art class senior year, Illinois military high school in the 80’s ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-have-attended-or-worked-at-a-military-school/816223/10 "2018-06-18T21:30:04Z")
I assume you’re talking about art as in either art technique or art appreciation (“these are the characteristics of the Renaissance masters…”) I also assume you’re talking about a course or several, not a degree in fine arts or dance or something. I also assume you’re talking about a military academy high school, which is what New York Military Academy appears to be. IIRC in high school, I was taking maybe 6 or 8 subjects at a time; so art as one of them (which did not fit my schedule) would not indicate any “artsy fartsy” leaning on behalf of the school. Most military academies offer a standard high school education - just that they are boarding schools that provide additional disciplinary structures for the rest of the time. When I was growing up “Military Academy” was a way to send a kid away to somewhere that would drill (beat?) some common sense into him, a place to put unruly problem children, the troublemakers, lazy, undisciplined, or uncontrollable (or the unwanted) - which brings up the question, why did Donny go there? Did anyone else in his family? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-have-attended-or-worked-at-a-military-school/816223/11 "2018-06-18T21:33:20Z")
I went th one for a while and Art (and music) were mandatory. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-have-attended-or-worked-at-a-military-school/816223/12 "2018-06-18T22:26:44Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > When I was growing up “Military Academy” was a way to send a kid away to somewhere that would drill (beat?) some common sense into him, a place to put unruly problem children, the troublemakers, lazy, undisciplined, or uncontrollable (or the unwanted) One may recall that one of the key plot points in “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” was that they were slackers, and that Ted’s father was threatening to send him off to military school if his grades didn’t improve. As this would have had the history-changing effect of breaking up Wyld Stallyns, Rufus came back from the future to lend them the time machine, and help them pass their history class. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-people-who-have-attended-or-worked-at-a-military-school/816223/13 "2018-06-18T22:59:24Z")
> [@wevets](#): > > Texas A & M does offer a degree in [Dance Science](http://majors.tamu.edu/index.php/site/information/39) and [Performance Studies](http://majors.tamu.edu/index.php/site/information/72), although A&M is a university rather than the military high school Trump attended (he went to Univ. of Pennsylvania/Wharton for undergrad.) New since I graduated almost 40 years ago, thanks.