Ecole Polytechnique Vs West Point Essay

When comparing the Ecole Polytechnique and West Point, there are many similarities in the way that the schools base their curriculum. The curriculum is based off of what engineers needed to know, which is math and science. The sciences were chemistry and physics, and the math went into calculus. These schools were places that harbored great students that were above average since to get into the schools you needed to pass entrance requirements. Not only is the entrance exam a way to select the best, the entrance requirements also decide if the candidate is capable of understanding mainly math. Math was the biggest focus in this time because these schools were primary supporters of the building up army soldiers.
When focusing on the army, West …show more content…
Both schools have a main focus on math and physics to make each student a better engineer, as well as a better cadet. But to contrast the two, West Point did not have exams, but actually had variable preparation, and political requirements, which depended on who you knew to get you into the school, while the Ecole Polytechnique focused more on entrance exams to test the knowledge of the students to see if they qualified to get into the well renowned school. And now that the Ecole Polytechnique is no longer focused on the military, the school looks to develop more scientists, engineers, or researchers instead of being more focused on making soldiers out of the students that go to school. The Ecole Polytechnique also tried to focus more on giving “each student a task of study proportional to his capacity” (Shell, A.).
West Point and the Ecole Polytechnique were similar in many ways. West Point copied the Ecole Polytechnique in a few ways, which is through the open admission until the students failed the examinations or requirement to get into these hard schools. Also, another way that West Point copied the Ecole Polytechnique is by the quality control through grades, which would eliminate the people that could not preform the basic requirements of the fields of study. The daily requirements for these students from both schools were evaluated every …show more content…
But where it differed, was in the way the students were taught. At first, the Ecole Polytechnique was more military based, and West Point was the slacking in the academics that the students were taught since the education was more relaxed and not controlled. But now when you look at both schools, the Ecole Polytechnique is mainly focused on how the students are taught and that education is the most important role in school. This is why the students at the Ecole Polytechnique are graduating in more of a science and mathematics background with little focus on the military aspect of it all. But when looking at West Point, this school is mainly focused on having a military background even though the education of the students is still important. At West Point, the main focus is to create the best soldier for the military and to also prepare a military engineer as well. The engineering part comes from the many years of math and science taught to the cadets. There are “some cadets that have graduated in under a year of their admittance” because of the strong focus and dedication to their studying and military wants in their career (Shell,