Turn of the Century and Education in a World War

Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn Courses of Study 1905

Poly Courses of Study in 1905

Here we can see the courses of study offered by Brooklyn Poly. Already there is a pretty significant differentiation from the United States Military Academy at West Point, which is a wholly undergraduate institution whereas Brooklyn Poly seems to have a much higher prevalence of graduate degrees with only two courses "arts" and "chemistry" leading to  only undergraduate degrees. Further there are only 6 undergraduate courses offered at all, split between natural sciences and engineering disciplines. Notably there are no formal research institutions introduced yet, although academic research was being conducted. The primary reason for this is that an engineer's degree was defacto required for work as an engineer. While West Point guarenteed jobs post graduation in the military it was necessary for Brooklyn Poly to maintain its reputation by placing its graduates in industry. 

An Excerpt from the Superintendent's Notes on the Difficulty of Retaining Instructors

A World at War

The curriculum at West Point had not changed much since the late 1800s. The courses of study were still rather limited, with mathematics, physics (as natural and experimental philosophy), chemistry minerology and geology, and civil and military engineering being the extent of the offerings. Further courses in modern languages, English, history and law were offered, with the obvious addition of military specific courses in ordnance, gunnery, and tactics. There is a larger change though from the earlier time period. West Point had grown considerably in scale to around 700 cadets. The Superintendent's notes in 1914 already show a problem in the fundamental system at West Point, that the vast majority of instructors were themselves graduates and still on active duty. While the US would not become involved in World War I until 1917, staffing with the very small class sizes was becoming problematic. Although the US involvement in World War I was relatively brief it had a prolonged impact on the United States Military Academy as to accomadate for the demand for officers classes were pushed out in as little as 2 years, with the full return to the prewar norm taking nearly 10 years.

Changes caused by World War II

World War II ended in 1945, and the war had significant impacts on the course of study offered at West Point. MacArthur had begun to implement significant changes during his time as the Superintendent before World War II to fix issues he saw with graduates during World War I, including increasing emphasis on athletics and competition. With the need to graduate classes early finally waning, the curriculum was considerably overhauled with an increased focus on the liberal arts, and the things that would make an officer a better leader. Majors were more or less abandoned at this point with a single course of study offered with the exception of languages where the cadet had the ability to choose between the offerings. It is at this point where stark differences really start to appear between the claim of being an engineering school and the reality of the need for a broad basis in humanities starts to appear. While courses in the humanities had been historically offered the revamped course of study following the Second World War was a marked departure from the early history of nearly entirely engineering/ applied courses. A far cry indeed from the time when even English was not taught at the academy.