"West Point Bicentennial"
A Pictorial History of the First Two Hundred Years of the United States Military Academy
Preface | 1776-1817 | 1817-1833 | 1833-1848 | 1848-1865 | 1865-1890 | 1890-1919 | 1919-1939 | 1939-1950 | 1950-1970 | 1970-1980 | 1980-2002 | Bicentennial and Beyond

"Years of Continuity and Progress"

1980-2002

With the tumultuous decade of the 1970s behind it, West Point refocused on its mission of preparing career Army officers and leaders. For more than a century, the Military Academy had tried to create a system in which cadets might lead and develop other cadets, while avoiding the potential abuses associated with giving young men and women too much power over one another. Although hazing and physical abuse had declined substantially, this system, called the Fourth Class System because of its focus on developing plebes, or Fourth Class cadets, had remained essentially unchanged. Numerous studies since World War II argued that abuses within the system were detrimental to cadet development and recommended changes to eliminate them. Concerted efforts began after the end of the Vietnam War with the institution of "positive leadership" spurred by Superintendent Goodpaster, to encourage, motivate and inspire plebes rather than humiliate and demean them, as too often had occurred in the past.

Despite the efforts of successive superintendents, fundamental changes in the system did not culminate until 1989, when Superintendent Dave Palmer directed studies of the existing Fourth Class System by officers, graduates and cadets. Following the separate studies, which all urged a fundamental revision of the existing system, the Cadet Leader Development System (CLDS) was inaugurated in 1990. Rather than retaining a program focused solely on the plebes, a progressive, developmental program involving all four classes was initiated. The upper three classes were assigned leadership duties and rank based on their year -- all First Class cadets as officers, all Second Class cadets as sergeants, and all Third Class cadets as corporals. The Fourth Class System was replaced by a "four-class system" intended to gradually increase cadet responsibilities and expose the cadets to the proper relationship between experience, privilege, and responsibility. Further refinements to the system have included an increased number of privileges and passes designed to better acquaint cadets with civilian society and to give cadets greater opportunities to exercise personal initiative and discipline while assuming greater personal responsibility for their actions.

Efforts also were made to increase cadet emphasis on academics. The West Point Study Group Report of 1977 noted that cadets needed an opportunity to "develop depth in a chosen field of interest" and advocated a variety of curriculum changes. One change reduced the required academic courses from 48 to 40 to enable cadets to devote more time to each course and increased the number of electives to ten. Another change narrowed the power of the Academic Board to that specified by law. The Academic Board often had been resistant to change through the years and had hindered the academy’s ability to make appropriate changes in the curriculum. The Army also instituted a review process for all permanent faculty members in 1987.

An even more profound change allowed cadets to major in a subject of study. This was the final major step in a process that had begun with the introduction of electives back in 1961. There was general recognition that West Point needed to produce officers who possessed a sound foundation in engineering and the humanities. However, by the 1980s, American post-graduate education and the increasingly technical Army both demanded students who studied subjects in great depth. West Point understood the needs and concerns of the Army and responded by providing graduates with technical expertise in mathematics, science and engineering as well as in the humanities and public affairs. In addition, more and more accreditation boards were being established to promote high standards of scholarship. Accreditation of the engineering programs by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET), one of the most prominent subject accrediting agencies, was desired to verify the strength of the academy’s engineering curriculum. To meet the standards of ABET accreditation meant that the academy was essentially offering majors in those engineering fields. To maintain balance it was desired that we offer majors in the humanities and public affairs area as well. Lastly, West Point was among the very few institutions in the nation not offering majors and some cadets who entered with previous college-level experience had taken upper-level courses that would have constituted a major at most universities. For all of these reasons then, the Academic Board voted to adopt a program of academic majors while maintaining a commitment to a rigorous core curriculum. Beginning with the Class of 1985, cadets were provided an opportunity to select an academic major including both ABET-accredited engineering majors and majors in the humanities and public affairs area. For those choosing not to major they could instead focus on a variety of less confining fields of study. The high quality of the engineering program is demonstrated by the fact that over the past three decades Military Academy graduates have received Hertz Fellowships for excellence in engineering at the rate of more than one a year.

Despite the move to majors, cadets still receive a Bachelor of Science degree. Those cadets who choose a non-engineering major continue to take numerous mathematics, science and engineering courses as a foundation for problem solving and to be aware of the capabilities of complex technology. Today, cadets take a minimum of 40 classes, 31 of which are core courses. Cadets may group their electives in any one of 25 different fields of study or any one of 21 majors. More than 75 percent of the Corps of Cadets elect to major and must take additional courses prescribed by the disciplinary field, follow a more structured elective sequence and complete a senior thesis or design project. All the majors are consistent with the needs of the Army, but cadets choose their fields or majors according to their interests and talent, and their selection of branches is not linked to their chosen area of study. The strong array of mandatory core courses ensures a solid but diverse foundation while maintaining rigorous standards in math, science and engineering. Thus, while West Point produces approximately 25 percent of the Army’s basic branch officers, its graduates fill more than 80 percent of the Army’s needs for lieutenants with degrees in the physical sciences and engineering.

The change in curriculum also corresponded to the change in the composition of the faculty. In 1993, Congress directed an increase in the civilian composition of the Military Academy faculty to about 25 percent by 2000. In 1976, the faculty consisted almost entirely of military officers, except for a few visiting professors and the civilian instructors in the Departments of Foreign Languages and Physical Education. Today more than 20 percent of the faculty is civilian professors who add greater intellectual depth in the fields they teach. While the composition of the faculty has changed, approximately 65 percent are still captains and majors who seek assignment to West Point. Cadet contact with these highly motivated, well educated officers, whose recent service with troops provides a valuable mentoring experience, remains one of the hallmarks of the West Point education and supplements the leadership development process.

The tactical officers and non-commissioned officers assigned to each cadet company have always played an important part in the cadet leadership development process. Many famous leaders have served as tactical officers at West Point, including John Pershing and Omar Bradley. Before 1969, tactical officers normally arrived at West Point as captains straight from successful troop commands. At the time, many believed that their practical field experience in the field Army was adequate to train cadets. In 1969, at the urging of Commandant of Cadets Bernard Rogers, the Military Academy began sending its tactical officers to advanced civilian schooling before they reported to West Point. This enabled the tactical officers to have a better understanding of behavioral sciences and organizational development -- tools they need during their three-year tours as mentors to the Corps of Cadets.

West Point developed a post-graduate program, the Dwight David Eisenhower Program of Graduate Studies in Leader Development, during the superintendency of Dave Palmer, to educate and train future tactical officers. Started in 1988, this multidisciplinary program prepared Army officers specifically for assignments as tactical officers at West Point and later as leader developers in the field Army. Congress authorized the Military Academy to grant a Master of Arts degree to all officers in the program but stipulated that a civilian university should grant master’s degrees for classes after 1994. Today this program is known as the Tactical Officer Education Program. Long Island University grants the degree but the Military Academy faculty provides assistance.