Military Culture and Education (review)

In Military Culture and Education, Douglas Higbee, Assistant Professor of English at the University of South Carolina-Aiken, presents a collection of stories and opinions about military culture and its intersection with the academy. The issues addressed include civic engagement, sexual orientation, pedagogy, governance, and the contrast between military and academic cultures. The variety of perspectives presented provides an outsider with a glimpse into politics, tensions, hierarchy, indoctrination, and adaptation of higher education within the military.

Douglas Higbee divides the book into three parts, drawing upon individual perspectives to give a personal voice illustrative of military culture’s myriad views toward higher education. Part 1, “Intersections in and out of the Field,” provides three perspectives: those of a military instructor, a civilian anthropologist consulting with the military, and a civilian college instructor with reservist experience. The chapters argue for better leadership development through Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) programs, better utilization of social science research in foreign conflicts, and better understanding of the combat environment. This section establishes the need for the intersection of the two cultures and their usefulness when they do.

Part 2, “Military Academies and Humanistic Inquiry,” explores pedagogy relevant to today’s higher education landscape that is shared in both cultures. Civic engagement through sharp writing by citizen-soldiers, common readings to discuss diversity and leadership, classic literature with military themes, and poetry are a few of the pedagogies discussed in this section. Higbee also reviews West Point’s Thayer Method, a signature pedagogy that holds students accountable for studying prior to class and then engages students in class through both group learning and active learning. Readers will notice that similar versions of these tools have been proven effective with civilian students. Here they have been skillfully adapted by instructors for the military classroom. The level of commentary on the use of pedagogy by experienced instructors is substantial and informative for those seeking new ideas to improve instruction and teaching methods, regardless of civilian or military school settings.

In Part 3, “Teaching in Professional Military Schools,” Higbee ends the book by offering perspectives from three professors who teach in military schools. These final chapters build on the contrasts presented earlier and describe the challenges ahead for military schools in preparing military leaders. Enhancing the study of military history to increase the level of expertise, addressing the practicality and limitations of course standardization and its affect on academic freedom, and the similar use of the adult-learning model of education in both cultures are matters that the military must seek to integrate as more military schools “civilianize” the faculty.

The different perspectives that Higbee presents help the reader rethink the image of the military as a large, bureaucratic institution that never changes, deviates, or questions its procedures and standards. In fact, Higbee’s collection offers a gallery of people who show us that the military culture is adapting to higher education practices to improve its own training programs. The general lack of understanding of military culture makes this book relevant for everyone in higher education who works with or supports students who have military service. It offers some potential overlaps in culture that civilian schools can mine for ways to better connect with incoming student veterans. This book will be valuable to those who wish to increase their understanding of the military culture, customs, and mores from which student veterans come.

This book is thus valuable for both civilian and military faculty. Both cultures need highly skilled faculty to effectively teach the leaders of tomorrow. As more men and women with military service make their way into the halls of civilian higher education, increasing the level of mutual adaptation between higher education and military culture will aid their adjustment and academic success. Conversely, this book will give insight to civilian faculty who are considering an appointment in a military school. Higbee has added to the limited available literature needed to prepare faculty to adjust to scholarship within a military setting.

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