Mandatory Marching by Phoebe

Mandatory Marching by Phoebe - January 2023 Scholarship Essay

Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (JROTC) should be a required class in high school, probably for freshmen.
Before the cries of outrage become too loud, I would like it noted that while I did take JROTC, I only took it for one year, in my freshman year of high school. I quickly discovered that it wasn’t for me, however much the kid inside me wanted to spin rifles while standing in formation. So I’m not trying to argue JROTC is so fun, everyone should be forced to take it. I rather suspect that if everyone was forced to take it, it would quickly overtake math (held in especially hot classrooms) as “Most Hated Required Class.”
But even more than AVID, JROTC teaches discipline. (Well duh, it’s a class that’s specifically designed to encourage people to enlist once they’re legal, and the military is all about discipline. They’re not going to teach prospective future military officers to be undisciplined.) And discipline is the kind of thing that goes helps a person go far in life, even without joining the military. Everyone should have a brush with discipline at least once, and if high school is as important as the College Board thinks, then maybe schools should push JROTC more than AP tests. After all, my AP scores aren’t going to help me find a job (at least, not directly). But my ability to walk quickly while wearing nice clothes (courtesy of all that marching) might help me make it to my interview on time.
Aside from discipline, I think JROTC can take in anyone. It’s one of the few classes that isn’t based on an individual’s memorization ability, or athletic ability, or even the ability to suck up to instructors. If a person can take orders (and has no life outside of JROTC), then they’d do well. And if a person can’t take orders – well, JROTC has something them as well. And in the first year of high school, when everyone is starting to get sorted into categories, it’s not that bad to be considered “one of the JROTC kids.”
Probably most kids don’t want to know how to stand “at ease” or even know the appropriate way to jog while wearing a uniform, but I suspect those things are a bit more insidious than most people imagine. Even after I left, I still walked like I was marching, and still stand at ease like I’m in formation. (It’s good to avoid fidgeting.) And the uniform is uniquely irritating – because of the epaulettes, wearing a backpack is forbidden. But even dealing with the bothersome things can be a bit of a life lesson. Not everything is going to be sunshine and rainbows, and JROTC is a pretty good example of that. And really, it's about the long-term life lessons, not memorizing whether a sergeant first class is higher than a first lieutenant (I don’t remember. I couldn’t remember when I was in JROTC).
I admit one year won’t produce miracle results. I’m not sure my discipline was really affected by JROTC, and I definitely didn’t feel that embraced by JROTC. But I think a brush with military ideals and ideas can help people, especially teenagers.
And if JROTC does become a required class, I’m sure at least one group will be ecstatic: the military.