Socioemotional Learning in a Military School Environment

Introduction

Military boarding schools are a unique entity in the academic field. Due to the boarding nature and military structure they promote, military boarding schools create their own ecosystem in which students, called cadets, learn and live. Using this structure, integrating concepts of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs into their practices is intrinsic, creating educational learning spaces where cadets’ fundamental needs are being met. For the purposes of this chapter, we have focused on the military boarding schools with which we have experience. These military boarding schools are associated with Army JROTC and therefore incorporate character traits such as the Army’s Seven Core Values into their curriculum.

These values are present both in and out of the classroom and are essential to the operation of an Army-based military boarding school. By adopting these values, students also inadvertently adopt the values of social and emotional learning. As these sets of values are used in tandem with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, students within the military boarding school environment have a higher probability of becoming both academically socially successful.

Through our work in these environments, we have observed the positive outcomes of student immersion in the corps. We have watched as students become leaders through a deeper understanding of themselves and their relationship to the world around them, and we have proudly witnessed them enter that world with the confidence and tools needed to succeed.