Appendix - USMA's Academic Program

 

On my return to civilian life I accepted a position with Sandia Corporation in Albuquerque as a Staff Member Technical or as we were later known, a Member of the Technical Staff. There were only five Chicanos at the time who were members of this elite 1,500 member group, but one of them, Leo Gutierrez, was the Director of Preliminary Design.

I really do believe that the only reason I was hired was that I had a BS degree from West Point. There were other Academy graduates on the Technical Staff, three from Annapolis and two from West Point. All of us had to prove ourselves technically, but more I than the others who were all Anglos. In my case I was challenged openly. I remember one particular day, shortly after I was hired. This one-armed ex-Marine Infantry Major, all six foot-four of him came over to my desk. He said he was a Physicist and wondered if I had any background in Physics, or had I majored in Military Science.

It took me a while to realize what he was up to. He wanted to humiliate me and perhaps get me to either resign or opt for not being in the elite Staff Member group. As I listened to him I put together in my mind a list of courses I had had, that to my mind fell in the area of Physics. I said, "Well, I do know what lift is. I have a Private Pilot's license and belong to the Aero Club on the base."

Then I ticked off all the courses I had had at West Point in the area of Physics. I said, "And I have had Mechanics, Sound and Light, Thermodynamics, Statics, Strength of Materials, Fluid Mechanics, Metallurgy, Kinematics, Kinetics, Dynamics, and Nuclear Physics."

I was lucky he did not know much about any of the fields I had studied. I engaged him in a discussion of friction and the calculation of force. I recalled my Physics Pro­fessor at West Point; we called him "Free Body," and I started each and every point in my argument with, "Let us start with a free body."

The Major never bothered me again; I did manage to get in a statement to the effect that he may not be aware that West Point was the first Engineering School established in the United States.

One of the West Point guys later came to me and said, "You sure took care of Dick Poe. He had been asking for it."

 

I could have added some of the Ordnance courses such as Manufacturing Processes, Mechanisms, Automotive Engineering and Materials, Armament Engineering and Materials, Explosives, Ammunition, Atomic Weapons, Ballis­tics, Gun Construction, Recoil Systems, Guided Missiles, Small Arms, and Automatic Weapons, but I contained myself.

I wonder how many times other West Point graduates have had to "justify" their preparation when they take civilian jobs?

For this and other nostalgic reasons I have chosen to reproduce parts of "USMA's Academic Program: A Descriptive Report" by Frederick A. Smith Jr. '44, dean of the Academic Board at USMA in 1976, exactly twenty five years after we graduated. (His analysis does not describe the academic program we experienced but it does give the reader an appreciation of how it is monitored over time to maintain its excellence. There are some points that are scary, such as the electives program, and the validation of courses. In our days we had cadets who had already obtained degrees from other institutions and there was no validation. We all took the same courses except for language.)

 

He writes: "Our mission as soldiers and educators at West Point is to inspire our students so they will be dedicated to the life‑long pursuit of excellence in all they do. The broad, general, collegiate education we provide them embraces a wide variety of disciplines and seeks to strike a vital balance between the sciences and the humanities. The academic program gives every cadet the educational base for a long career of commissioned service, a foundation for successful post‑graduate work in a considerable variety of specialized studies, and perhaps of ultimate importance to the Army - a desire for a life-time of continuing intellectual development.

 

FACULTY: In view of the unique objective assigned the Military Academy - the development of professional Regular Army Officers - West Point has on board the finest under-graduate faculty in the land. Not only are its non-tenured members highly competent class-room teachers, fresh from post-graduate study in the nation's great universities and well on top of their disciplines, but, in addition, they are outstanding examples of the Army's junior commissioned officers: forward looking, innovative, professionally keen, intellectually lively, physically fit, and of an age to empathize effectively with their students.

 

USMA prides itself that the beneficial influence of these young scholars in uniform reaches well beyond the mere transfer of knowledge and the inculcation of effective disciplinary methodologies; upon West Point's commissioned academic staff rests the additional responsibility of motivating cadets in their career towards those ideals and principles which must animate all of our Army officers.


Tenured faculty members on the other hand continue to provide essential continuity and stability to the academic program through their service as department heads, deputies, and associate professors. Since 1970, these faculty members have participated in the War College Fellowship program which renews their contact with the military profession and enhances their development as professional officers. Such fellowships involve attendance as a student, assignment as a full-time member of the teaching faculty, or some combination of the two based on the individual's background and the needs of the college. West Point has a Permanent Associate Professor at the Army War College, the National War College and the Air War College.

 

These two faculty components, non-tenured and tenured, work closely together in the pursuit of academic excellence. The high quality of their instruction was confirmed by the Military Academy's accrediting institution, The Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, during its last evaluation of our academic program: Classroom instruction at West Point reaches an exceedingly high level of performance. One member of the evaluation team suggested the formation of a "West Point Instructional Blood Bank: from which transfusions might be begged, borrowed or stolen for use in vivifying tired civilian instructors in our own institutions. Particularly noteworthy is the intelligent and effective manner in which educational technology is fully integrated into the instructional program.

 

The various media are available for use; experimentation and with new techniques is general and constant; instructors seem to know how to employ the facilities at their disposal with great effectiveness. An Academy classroom is a lively place with students and instructors engaging in constant but directed discussion that progresses systematically through assigned course materials. All thought of indoctrination as the pattern for West point teaching disappears within the first fifteen minutes of classroom experience there. The art of instruction is highly regarded at the Academy, but methodology is not permitted to take precedence over educational content. Classes and courses are organized with clarity of purpose, and the purposes are well within the range of student comprehension, Junior and senior faculty members evidently work well together in course planning and preparation."

 

ACADEMIC SUPPORT: The Military Academy has moved actively, but with discrimination, to integrate into its teaching programs those advances in audio‑visual and computer technology which are of proven pedagogical efficacy. A program for equipping each cadet with a pocket-electronic calculator for use in mathematics and the scientific disciplines in place of the hallowed slide rule, is now well advanced, and its results are being monitored; West Point's seven‑channel closed‑circuit TV network of over five hundred class‑room receivers is being most effectively used; cadet utilization of the Academy's advanced computer equipment is facilitated by an extensive network of remote terminals located conveniently in cadet areas; and the USMA Library, dedicated primarily to academic course support, is continuously making appropriate additions to its collections. Its recently acquired electronic tie-ins to the Ohio College Library Center have markedly increased its capacity to meet demands for timely information and to expedite the previously time-consuming task of cataloguing library acquisitions.


CURRICULUM: The faculty and its supporting agencies work together to give each cadet a quality education. The required core curriculum outlined below provides the foundation for that education.

 

Core Curriculum

 

4th Class Year

Credit Hrs

 

3rd Class Year

Credit Hrs

Mathematics

12

 

Mathematics

7

Engineering Fundamentals

4

 

Chemistry

7

Planetary Science

2.5

 

Physics

7

Geography

2.5

 

Foreign Language

6

Foreign Language

5

 

History

5

English

5

 

English

2.5

 

 

 

Psychology

2.5

 

31.0

 

 

37

 

 

 

 

 

2d Class Year

Credit Hrs

 

1st Class Year

Credit Hrs

Mechanics

7

 

Engineering

7

Electrical Engineering

7

 

History of Military Art

7

Physics

3.5

 

Social Sciences

7

Economics

2.5

 

English

2.5

U.S. Govt.

2.5

 

Leadership

2.5

Law

5

 

 

 

 

37.0

 

 

26.0

 

Mastery of these core subjects assures every graduate of a shared educational experience which reaches across a broad spectrum of knowledge. The curriculum also provides an introduction to the methodologies employed in the several scientific and technical fields as well as in the humanities and prepares the cadet for more advanced study in the elective program.

 

To accommodate individual interests, aptitudes and aspirations an extensive elective program is offered. Every cadet enrolls in sis or seven electives, chosen from an offering of over one-hundred and fifty courses in four broad areas: Basic Sciences, Applied Science and Engineering, Humanities, and National Security and Public Affairs. elective courses within these areas of concentration are grouped into associated fields as shown below:

 

Basic Sciences                                           Humanities

  Chemistry                                                  American Studies

  Mathematics                                              British & American Literature

  Physics                                                       Chinese

  Computer Science                                     French

                                                                     German

Applied Science & Engineering                  Portuguese

  Civil Engineering                                       Spanish

  Engineering Mechanics

  Nuclear Engineering                               National Security/Public Affairs

  Weapons Systems Engineering                 Economics  Geography

                                                                     History        Military Studies        

Interdisciplinary                                          International Affairs

  Management                                              Political Science         

 

The cadet may choose his electives from the courses offered in an area of concentration or from a single field in that area. He may also choose the General Elective Program and continue the pattern and philosophy of the core curriculum by selecting his electives from the entire spectrum of elective offerings.


Although the areas of concentration do not constitute "majors" as that term is commonly used, a cadet, in expressing his elective options, can achieve a minor in one of a number of fields and can closely approach the requirements of a respectable major in many others.

 

Two typical programs are outlined below to illustrate the point; they show elective courses available at West Point compared with those offered at prestigious universities in their majors programs:

 

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

University of Texas                                    USMA

          Processes                                           ME 384 Mechanics of Materials

  Vibrations

  Compressible Fluid Flow                          ME 481 Compressible Aerdyn'ics

  Thermodynamics II (Energy Conv.)         ME 472 Direct Energy Conver.

   Design of Thermal Systems                      ME 473 Experimental Thermodyn.

  Gas Power Dynamics                                ME 471 Propulsion

 

ENGLISH

 

Yale                                                            USMA


  EN 66b American Humor                           EN 151 Interdisciplinary Study of American Issues

  EN 55a American Poetry                           EN 152 American Literature

  EN 29  European Literary Trad.              EN 201 Comparative Literature

  EN 25  Major English Poets                     EN 381A Brit. Lit. to 1680

  EN 56a 19th Cent. Amer. Lit.                   EN 383B 19th Cent. Amer Lit.      

  EN 41a Liter. of the Renaissance             EN 383C Lit. of the Renaiss.

  EN 76‑2b Literature & Psychology         EN 402 Readings in Philosophy

  EN 44b 18th Cent. English Novel              EN 481A The Novel

  EN 32a Chaucer                                       EN 485C Seminar in Chaucer

  EN 33a Shakespeare & Elizabethan         EN 486Q Seminar in Shakespeare

              Drama                                                   

 

  EN 71a Faulkner                                      EN 486B Seminar in Faulkner

  EN 64‑2a Emily Dickinson                        EN 486M Dickinson, Whitman, etc.

  EN 99a Special Project for                       EN 489 Advanced Individual        

                   English Majors                                Studies in English

 

It is important to note that the elective program affords a greater degree of choice than students normally have in traditional majors programs, and over four years our students generally receive a more balanced education because of the core curriculum. Also of more than passing interest is the fact that many of our students validate courses in the core curriculum by virtue of transfer credit, advanced placement examinations, and departmental validation examinations. Each validation then creates the opportunity for the cadet to take an additional elective course.

 

CURRICULAR REVIEW: To ensure that curriculum development at the Military Academy keeps pace with current educational trends and the requirements of the Department of the Army, periodic reviews of our academic program must be conducted. Annual review of all Military programs is accomplished by the Board of Visitors. Curricular review and accreditation are accomplished every ten years by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.

 

These formal reviews are also complemented by the work of various ad hoc committees of the Academic Board which continuously provide internal curricular review. Periodically, at the Superintendent's direction, extensive curriculum review is conducted by boards composed of distinguished civilian educators, executives, and members of the Military Academy faculty. The last such review was conducted in 1972 by the Kappel Board, and the Superintendent has recently appointed an internal Curricular Study Group to conduct a comprehensive study of the academic program and curriculum. It is charged with seeking ways to improve the quality of the program.

 

On a less formal basis the Cadet Academic Council, consisting of four First Classmen and four Second classmen, provides valuable student insight on matters pertaining to the academic program. They meet with the Dean twice a month to share ideas and make recommendations about academic matters that concern the Corps of Cadets.


Another dimension outside the Military Academy has been added to the curricular review process as a result of recent initiatives outlined by the Department of Defense Committee on Excellence in Education. Under the auspices of that Committee, extensive curricular studies were conducted during the last year at the three service academies. These studies fostered an exchange of ideas among Academy planners and led to a better understanding of mutual programs. Committee initiatives also led to a new exchange program in September 1975.

 

EXCHANGE PROGRAM: Under the student exchange program, six cadets from West Point attended the Air Force Academy during the first semester of Academic Year 1975-76, and six attended the Naval Academy. Likewise, six cadets from those two academies were in residence at West Point at the same time. The cadet exchange is complemented by a yearlong faculty exchange between officers of the Military Academy and the Air Force Academy. Both of these exchange programs enhance inter-service relationships, broaden understanding of service roles and provide a forum for the exchange of ideas concerning Academy programs.

 

REFLECTION: Perhaps our graduates themselves offer the most conclusive testimony about the effectiveness of West Point's educational program. They continue to confirm its excellence by not only performing well as commissioned officers in the Army, but also by writing brilliant records in competition with the graduates of other service academies, civilian universities and colleges for postgraduate fellowships and scholarships in a wide variety of fields. West Pointers clearly hold their own. Since 1923 when cadets first began competing for Rhodes Scholarships, fifty-five have been selected - a record of achievement exceeded only by Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.

 

In 1962 West Point entered competition for National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships, twenty-seven have been won; starting in 1960, graduated cadets began competing for admission to the Olmsted Scholar Program and twenty-three have enrolled; since 1969, two graduates have won the Daedalian Award for graduate study in Aeronautical-astronautical engineering; since 1973 sixteen have been named Marshall Scholars, thirty-eight cadets have won the Hertz foundation Graduate Fellowship for study in engineering and applied science, eight have been named East-West Center Fellows and six cadet have been selected as Truman Scholars.

 

Historically, over seventy percent of those graduates who remain on active duty attend graduate schools in a number of disciplines to meet Army requirements. Those at West Point charged with administering the academic program and shaping the curriculum look upon the institution and its graduates with a feeling of great accomplishment, and are neither complacent or content to rest on their laurels. They are well aware of the serious challenge which they face from year to year. The task is neither to maintain the status quo nor to bring about sweeping reform. One must look carefully at the Army's needs and more deliberately prepare the graduates to do their jobs in a constantly changing world.

 

As a way of teaching them to deal with that world, they must be taught to deal with themselves. The words of William Johnson Cory - poet, classicist, historian and assistant master of Eton for over a quarter of a century - is a reminder of the complexity of this task:

 

You go to a great school not for knowledge as much as arts and habits; for the habit of attention, for the art of expression, for the art of assuming at a moment's notice new intellectual postures, for the art of entering quickly into another person's thoughts, for the habit of submitting to censure and refutation, for the art of indicating assent or dissent in graduated terms, for the habit of regarding minute points of accuracy, for the habit of working out what is possible in a given time; for the taste, for discrimination, for mental courage and mental soberness. Above all, you ago to a great school for self knowledge.

 

It was over one hundred years ago that Cory set down these thoughts on the nature of schooling, but they remain remarkably apt today for West Point, and I will note that West Point was selected by Forbes as the No. 1 College in the nation in 2009. Ultimately, the hope is to make cadets think clearly so they can more effectively serve the nation.

 

Fin