Life Was A Bit Different

For some of us, life has been a bit different than the rest. At age 12, my parents decided I needed a bit of discipline, both in character and study habits. Off I went to military school.

In our viewpoint, it was a lot like the military. Getting up while it is still dark, standing in line to use the bathroom or wash, waxing floors, marching, eating with hundreds of others, parades, uniforms and so on.

With the exception of one year in public school, I attended from 6th grade through 12th. Some of my fellow cadets started in 5th grade.

The school had 665 students there most years and although some came and went over the years, some also continued through as I did. You can imagine that some of those people you still interact with over 50 years later. The interesting thing to note is that some of those teachers and administrators are still alive.

Many teachers were quite young when they started, having just graduated from teachers college. Their transition must have been interesting. Here was an offer of employment with perks. The school was in the foothills of Virginia surrounded by farms and cow pastures. The nearest city of any size was Charlottesville, over 28 miles away. The next largest city was Richmond, 90 miles to the east. As the brochure stated, “no big city influences” here, meaning no crime, no bars, no nothing.

The teachers could live on campus with spouse if they had one. They had uniforms and a “rank” as though they were actually military. They could eat in the mess hall with us, could get their haircut at the barber shop and could attend the two movie nights a week we had. They might also be a coach or be the mentor for a club or activity. We had a radio station, debate societies, drama club, photography club, band, riflery, archery, swimming, weight lifting, football, baseball, wrestling and the list goes on.

Teacher classes would be small, perhaps 10 or 15 students, all scared to do anything wrong. We students were well behaved and respectful, compared to what I can imagine was completely opposite at public schools.

The teachers would have medical care and subsidized tuition of their children were to attend.

With these perks, it was probably an easy decision to make. Thus as I say, many of these teachers and administrators remained until retirement. At the time I didn’t realize that some were not much older than college graduates. The uniforms they wore made them look older!

So if you think about it, in your 60’s would you still be talking to fellow students or even teachers you had in grade school? I can hardly remember anything about any teacher from grade school and only a few from college come to mind. Yet I attend high school reunions as often as I can. The past two years I was the student who traveled the furthest to the reunion. That is not a slam-dunk because the school hosts students from many foreign countries. The distance some students come also means that they may be invited to stay at the homes of fellow cadets over holidays. Some parents also take that opportunity to travel and allow their son to vacation with friends.

During much of the year you are on campus. If grades and your conduct are good, you can go home on certain weekends however the distance or cost involved may require you to stay at school.

Later in the year there are parades which you must attend. It is a time for the cadets to show off and impress the parents and for the parents to see that their son is actually making something of themselves.

I mentioned activities before. Although not a school just for sports, Fork Union has helped many NFL hopefuls realize their dream. Also Congressmen, military leaders, actors and businessmen have attended.

So as I say, it has been an interesting experience over the years to have attended and to revisit the campus to see how it has changed.