Military schools focus on discipline, training

For a top student who wants more than the common teen experience soaked in cell-phone and social media, military school is increasingly an option.

Despite their portrayal in movies as a strict environment for troubled teens, modern military schools compare favorably to other private boarding schools. They focus on serious academics as a prep for college, for example.

But the military school also offers an enhanced focus on discipline, structure, and physical training, according to Military School USA.

Military school students live in a highly time-structured environment, with school, study, training, and free time scheduled throughout the day.

One of the advantages of military schools is the bonds forged among students, who learn values of respect, solidarity, leadership and accountability.

Historically, boarding schools like these receive higher marks from students on things like teacher quality and 78 percent felt prepared to enter college compared to only 23 percent from public schools, according to The Association for Boarding Schools.

Additionally, about half of boarding school graduates will go on to earn advanced degrees compared to only 21 percent of  attendees.

Just because a student attends military school doesn’t mean that they must go on to join the military, according to Boarding School Review. Once they graduate and move on to college, students can take whatever educational and career path they want with the assurance that their unique upbringing will assist them in the future.

As for the troubled teens in the movies, most military schools will reject a potential student with a background of bad behavior, and they should instead seek out alternative schools equipped to deal with the remediation of their unique problems.