West Point / An Intimate Picture of the National Military Academy and of the Life of the Cadet

by Robert C. Richardson

In nearly all of the departments the Professor is able to standardize the instruction of the cadets by means of conferences with his instructors. These meetings are informal, partaking more of the nature of a conversazione in which the Professor outlines his wishes to his officers, emphasizing the points of the lesson that he wishes brought out. The conferences also offer to the instructors the opportunity to make suggestions to the Head of the Department in regard to the section-room work, pointing out the success or failure of certain features of the previous lesson.

The conferences are comparatively recent in the scheme of instruction at the Academy, but they are of great value to the officers. The result is that the instructor enters the section room with a feeling of confidence and a knowledge that his methods are approved in advance by his immediate chief. Moreover, the Professor is able to go from one section room to another and find that the teaching of the lesson is progressing uniformly. I have always considered the conference feature the greatest aid in my work as an instructor, for besides the profit derived from the Professor’s talk, there is always a constant interchange of ideas, of impressions, or perhaps a heated argument between the officers, all of which stimulate the mind and the imagination, and sharpen the wits. Furthermore, these meetings tend to produce harmony by drawing the officers together in a common cause. The introduction of conferences has markedly changed the former attitude of the instructor toward his work, so that instead of merely hearing the lesson and marking the cadet, as prevailed too frequently in years gone by, the officer is inspired to impart a maximum of knowledge and help to his student. I feel sure that the average of the teaching is rising year by year, due in large measure to the intelligent conduct of conferences by the various professors with their officer assistants.

In addition to their work in the preparation and teaching of the daily lessons, instructors are required to keep the record of the cadets’ marks. For this purpose, pasteboard cards properly ruled for the days of the week, averages, and proportional parts are provided, one for each cadet. After the conclusion of the day’s recitation the mark is entered by the instructor on the cadet’s card, and at the end of the week, all of the marks are transferred to a weekly report that each instructor submits for the cadets under his charge. These reports, or “tenth sheets” as the cadets call them, are publicly posted in glass frames in the sally-port, where they remain for one week, during which time the cadets are at liberty to inspect them. In this manner, a cadet can always tell exactly what progress he is making, whether deficient or proficient. There is never any attempt at secrecy, but, on the contrary, every facility is afforded the cadet to ascertain his standing. The pasteboard cards form the permanent record and are carefully filed in the department.

The weekly reports are usually posted every Saturday while the battalions are at inspection. Immediately upon breaking ranks, what a scramble ensues to get a peep at the result of the week’s work! Struggling cadets elbow and crowd one another to get close to the frames, each heart beating in anticipation of the figures that mean for some success and for others failure. The difference of perhaps one tenth in the total will sometimes fill the lad with dejection for the rest of the afternoon.

No one is deprived of the privilege of consulting his marks. Even those cadets serving punishment, such as confinement to rooms, can obtain permission to inspect the reports. More often, however, they send some plebe to copy the marks for them. The publicity of the marking has an excellent effect upon the cadet, for he knows what each man in his section accomplished during the week and sees that no partiality is shown nor injustice done by the instructor.

The scale of marking that is used at West Point was introduced when Major Sylvanus Thayer was Superintendent in 1837. Upon this scale a perfect recitation receives a mark of 3.0; good is represented by 2.5; indifferent by 2.0; bad, 1.5; imperfect, 1.0; and complete failure 0.0. The instructor may mark as close as a tenth giving a 2.8 or a 2.1 or a 1.4 as the recitation merits.

Since the marks determine a cadet’s graduation standing and affect his whole career as an officer, they naturally are given by him no little consideration. Sometimes I think that the cadets give entirely too much thought to attaining a good grade rather than to the thorough mastering of the subject; that is, they have a tendency to develop the memory at the expense of the thinking functions. As I have explained before West Point methods are strictly opposed to such a system, and the departments discourage verbatim recitations. The marking offers many difficulties at an institution such as West Point because a difference of a few hundredths between two cadets’ standing will alter their choice of a branch or Corps and affect their relative promotion by years. At colleges and universities this condition does not exist, for a man’s standing has little connection with his future career.

The cadet is not allowed to select his own course, or follow his own inclinations in regard to the curriculum. The mental diet is prescribed and no deviation therefrom is permitted. The three broad fundamentals governing the Academic course are: first, that every cadet shall take every subject; second, that before advancement every cadet shall be proficient in every subject; and third, that every cadet must recite every day.

As regards the above principles there is, of course a little qualification in each, sufficient to admit of some flexibility in application. While no cadet is permitted to elect whether or no he will take a subject, but is required to take all of them, still, some of the more advanced cadets go further in the subjects. In nearly every department the higher men have advanced or special courses.

As for the second principle, a cadet who is deficient in any one subject is usually dismissed. Occasionally, however, where a man stands especially well in all of his studies but fails in one, he may be conditioned by the Academic Board, or in some cases turned back to join the next class. Among the cadets, he becomes known as a “turnback,” a name that usually sticks to him, but conveys no reproach or stigma.