Discipline Tied to Traditional Values : Military Schools’ Growth Reflects Patriotic Fervor

Chris Lilis sat on a folding chair in the third row of the crowded gymnasium, surrounded by a sea of well-behaved, spit-shined little boys. As he swung his khaki-clad legs in time to the music, his polished black shoes missed the ground by inches.

The 5-year-old flashed a perfect set of sparkling white teeth as he sang military-flavored hymns with nearly 200 of his classmates.

It was afternoon chapel at the Southern California Military Academy, the only military school on the West Coast--and possibly in the country--that enrolls children as young as 5 in a boys-only program of drill practice and Christian education.

With its five-acre Signal Hill campus flanked by cannons to the north and swing sets to the south, the academy, like its nearly 50 counterparts across the country, is enjoying increased enrollment and popularity with parents and children alike, administrators say.

Military education experts contend the growth in academy enrollments is part of a nationwide trend toward patriotism, traditional values and conservatism.

About 10,000 boys and girls are enrolled in academies for elementary and secondary students--up about 5% over the past year or two, said Maj. W. D. Crittenberger, executive director of the nationwide Assn. for Military Colleges and Schools.

Southern California Military Academy, now in its 60th year, reflects similar enrollment patterns, said Glenn Davis, assistant headmaster. During the Vietnam War era, the school’s population dropped to about 350, he said. Today, the academy has nearly 425 students ranging from 5-year-old kindergartners to 15-year-old ninth-graders. An estimated 125 are enrolled in the residential program and the others are day students. Tuition ranges from about $3,000 to $6,000 a year.

Maj. Robert Mirelson, a Pentagon-based Army spokesman, credits the Reagan Administration for the reawakening of martial spirit.

“The present administration is very supportive of the military,” Mirelson said. “When the hostages were taken (in Iran), we were brought back to the big-stick mentality. I hate to say it, but I think patriotism is becoming trendy.”

Army Navy Academy in Carlsbad, Calif., and St. Catherine’s Military School in Anaheim--the only other military schools on the West Coast, Crittenberger said--both have benefited from what Mirelson calls the new “Hey, don’t mess around with America” spirit.

In the mid-1970s, Army Navy’s enrollment dropped to about 225, said general manager Fred Rowbotham. This year 335 cadets enrolled.

St. Catherine’s administrators were concerned about their academy’s future last February, when enrollment dropped to about 170. Today nearly 210 cadets attend the school, said administrator Sister Regina Marie.

At the Southern California Military Academy, children Chris’ age march through orderly hallways on their way from class to mess hall, to chapel and back again every weekday. They learn to salute as they learn to read, and many have to have their khaki uniforms specially tailored to fit their small frames.

Believes in ‘Old Values’

Alina Jarquin-Nelson has sent her son, Henry Jarquin, to the academy for 10 years because “I’m a person with a belief in old values, good values.”

“I believe a man should be a gentleman,” she said. “And I believe, contrary to many parents, that discipline starts at home in the crib. I chose that school because I know they reinforce the things I have taught Henry at home.”

The academy, begun in 1924 by a group of Long Beach businessmen, now is owned by a group of longtime academy employees.

In its early days, most cadets went on to join the armed forces, but today, Davis said, only about 3% of the graduates choose the military as a career.

“The public thinks this is a school where soldiers are made,” he said, watching a formation of fifth-graders go through inspection. “They don’t understand what we’re doing. What we do with the military structure is provide leadership training, self-esteem, discipline.”

Davis may play down the more soldierly aspects of the academy but “I wanna join the Army” is a familiar refrain among the cadets. Davis said the cadets thrive under the school’s menu of discipline, regimentation and “character building,” but not all the boys agree.

At one of his first inspections, a drill sergeant barked at Steve Yamasaki, 9:

“Your belt is on backwards, and it isn’t buckled right. And your shoes aren’t shined.”

But Yamasaki is philosophical. “Sometimes it’s hard,” he said. “But I’m here ‘cause it’s more better (than public schools). I asked my mom if I could come here, ‘cause ever since I was in third grade I wanted to be in the Army.”

There are other views. “It’s really silly here,” said Marcus Stevens, 12. “It’s silly to have to even sit at attention. No one in real life has to do that.”

Good behavior at the academy is rewarded with stripes, ribbons and promotions, and bad behavior is punished with demerits and demotions. Although the school stresses academics, those courses are interwoven with weekly chapel, dress parade practice and drill classes--where students are inspected, learn how t march and view Army-made films on topics such as saluting and the D-day invasion.

Regulations are what the school, the Army and life are all about, said Command Sgt. Major William Presley, second in command of the school’s military department. While younger cadets like Chris sang martial hymns in the gymnasium, Presley sat in the mess hall waiting for the upperclassmen to arrive for noon “rations.”

“I was brought up with a disciplinarian for a father,” said Presley, a retired 30-year veteran of the armed services who served in World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. “I am a firm believer in self-discipline, and I try to instill that in these boys.”