“Yes, sir!” “Yes, sir!”
Finally when the deduction has been rendered ridiculous, the officer will sharply say:
“That is perfectly absurd.” The cadet receives a lesson that he does not forget. Once or twice as a cadet I was in this position and I know the feeling.
After each cadet is heard, he is given other problems with which to wrestle while the other cadets are reciting. When a principle of particular importance is to be demonstrated, all of the cadets are required to face about and give their close attention in order that they may all benefit from the instruction.
During a recitation a visit may be expected at any time from the Professor or Head of the Department. Upon his entrance, the cadets all rise and stand at attention until they are told to proceed with their work.
The Professor either listens to the cadets recite or conducts the recitation himself. The recitation continues until the bugler blows the “Recall” in the area. What a welcome sound is this to those few who have spent the hour at the board, without reciting, vainly staring at the blank slate in the hope of drawing some inspiration from its cold surface! They have been “bugling,” waiting for the bugle to sound “Recall.” They quickly drop chalk, eraser, pointer, and joyfully file out of the room exchanging with their co-conspirators sympathetic smiles, and surreptitiously “rubbing their bellies,” as a sign of excessive joy.
The instructor at West Point has one great advantage over his fellow instructors in the colleges. His time is not occupied with trifling on the part of the students. The cadets are so thoroughly disciplined by the Tactical Department that their deportment in class is irreproachable. It is very rare that the recitation is interrupted to make corrections other than academic. The cadets are held to a high standard of discipline all the time. In class they are not permitted to communicate with one another, but they talk freely with the instructor about points in the lesson.
So much for the actual recitation, the conduct of which seems so smooth and simple. In the background, however, there is an admirable organization that strives for a maximum of efficiency in the instruction.
Every department consists of the Professor or Head of the Department, an assistant professor, and the requisite number of instructors which varies with the size of the classes. In the Departments of Mathematics and Modern Languages, each of which instructs two classes, the Professor is aided by an associate professor, besides the assistants.
The Professor is in complete control of his entire department. He prepares the courses of instruction, recommends the adoption of new text-books, or abolition of those in use, apportions the work among his instructors, conducts and supervises the conferences of his instructors, prepares and supervises the examination of the classes pursuing his course, is responsible for all property belonging to his department, and is the channel through which must pass all reports and official communications relating to departmental affairs.