Letter to the Editor: Military schools are not reform schools

by J. Basil Read III

February 8,2008

Al Germond's thoughts on creative sentencing for youth as expressed in the Columbia Business Times are interesting. As president of one of the two military schools left in the state of Missouri, I want you to know that we are not in the business of taking in and turning around "troubled youth." In fact, high school students with criminal records are barred from entry to Wentworth, and, to the best of my knowledge, they are not admitted to any of the 31 military high schools in the country.It is true that in the decades immediately following the Vietnam War some military schools lowered enrollment standards to keep their doors open. However, those that survived did so through rigorous college-prep academic programs and leadership-development curricula.

Wentworth is currently one of only two residential campuses in Missouri to offer a robust dual enrollment program in which students can earn simultaneous college and high school credits. We are also one of only five military junior colleges in the nation authorized by Congress to commission officers into the U.S. Army and the National Guard at the end of the sophomore year of college.

I would like to invite you to visit our historic campus in Lexington, where you will meet scores of bright, polite and motivated young men and women. You will also find that there are no walls, fences, guards or wardens to confine our students on our 137-acre campus.

Popularity: 50% [?]