Military schools place a huge emphasis on academic excellence. Small class sizes, extra study periods, experienced and talented teachers and constant monitoring and reports to parents almost guarantee a splendid academic outcome. Those who are falling behind are spotted quickly and given whatever extra tuition is required.

Military schools offer first class facilities for such programs as sport, outdoor education and the performing arts. Students who have a passion in one or more of these areas have ample time and resources at their disposal.

If your teen has any ability in the leadership field, it will be brought to the fore during their time in a military school. This is what they do. The discipline routines and the drills are of great benefit to all students. The ranking of staff members and the requirements of simple daily living all build self-esteem within the students and gives everyone a chance to lead.

Military schools place a high emphasis on civic pride, national duty and community involvement. Students are encouraged to attend church and community groups during weekends. Students are encouraged to help others in the local community thus developing a spirit of friendship and charitable deeds. These attitudes help make each student a better person and will go with them throughout their adult years as well.

Once it was that most military school students went on to take a career in the military. This is no longer the case although many military school graduates do indeed make a career for themselves in the military. And the recruitment officers in the military still look favorably on any young person who has graduated from a military school.

Young people in their teens need guidance and encouragement. It is these very characteristics which are prominent in every military school. They do not exist to punish students but to inspire and guide them Students are taught to be independent, to learn how to make decisions and the right ones at that. Parents want their kids to be kept out of harm’s way, to develop as excellent students and as worthwhile citizens. Those qualities are the chief goal of every military school.

If you are a non-union, unskilled, blue collar worker who dropped out of high school, but has good native intelligence (passes a very challenging aptitude test) and a good work ethic, the military pay and benefits are better than you can get on the outside. If you are a highly educated, technically skilled worker with some experience, the military doesn’t even come close to paying what you are worth on the outside. Most people do not fall in either extreme. There are also many other reasons to serve besides pay and benefits. And pay and benefits cannot make-up for the potential of major injury or loss of life, if you do not wish to give up some of your freedoms and offer your life for your country.

Every year the Army Times publishes a putative pay and benefits comparison for various jobs in the military, and their assumed civilian job equivalent. This might be a good article to look at for some insight to your question. Benefits are assumed at a high level, even if the military member never uses that benefit. Thus I am assumed to have a benefit advantage of being able to use military health care, the commissary, and the Post Exchange, to the tune of about $10,000 in savings a year (which the Army Times would add to my annual salary to inflate that number). However, I live too far away from a post to take advantage of these “benefits.” The cost of gas to get to post would far outweigh any reduced price savings I would get. So my actual pay and benefits is lower than the “typical” pay an benefits the Army Times claims. When I lived in DC my salary did not go nearly as far as it does when I live in the middle of nowhere Alabama. A young PFC working in the Pentagon will find it hard to make ends meet, but the civilian secretary doing a similar job, with locality pay, will make far more. That same PFC at Fort Benning Georgia can live very well. It is probably better than the local business secretaries.