The Naked Citadel Analysis

Classroom Communities On the surface classrooms are intended as learning environments, although they are way more than that, a school is also a community of students. Communities are important, because they could affect how students are learning. A particular community is defined by student’s interactions, interactions between staff and students, and the goal of the institution. The men of The Citadel, a military school in the south, and the social hierarchy that exists there are great examples of community in education. Susan Faludi illustrates different examples of The Citadel’s student community in her essay, “The Naked Citadel” Cathy Davidson also shows many examples of community in education and how community defines how students learn …show more content…
Students could interact positively or negatively to create a positive or negative community. In particular, The Citadel establishes a negative community by hosting negative interactions between students. It’s said that in The Citadel, Students have a social hierarchy that puts freshman students on the bottom. For example, “In October 1993, two upperclassmen burst into the room of two freshmen and reportedly kneed them in the genitals, pulled out some of their chest hair and beat them up,” (Faludi 81). This was a normal part of their hierarchy and was “common procedure,” (Faludi 81). The community that is established in the citadel is a result of the hierarchy that students put in effect themselves. It can be assumed that because these students were treated in such ways, they will carry on this tradition to others when they are freshmen, passing on the roles of hierarchy to them and restarting the cycle. One can imply this is how the social hierarchy community was established in The Citadel in the first place. Evidence for this is revealed when Faludi’s essay introduces Boo, an ex-assistant commandant from the sixties. Boo states that the harassment the boys commit is just “standard operating procedure,” (Faludi 96). The harassment that the boys receive could have bad negative effects on them. The essay describes the boys taking part in incredibly violent behavior all the time. Faludi states that “as vengeance to an …show more content…
The Citadel is a military academy and in her essay, Faludi states that “The Citadel is exceptional because the college gives a handful of older students leave to ‘govern’ the others as they see fit,” (Faludi 82). The Citadel itself helped create the social hierarchy that exists among students. Because of this privilege, the older students have more power. As soon as they were under the impression that they were superior in some way, the hierarchy was presumably formed. The Citadel could have any number of reasons for imposing a social hierarchy on its students. The most likely reason The Citadel did this was to better simulate treatment in the military. It is a military institution that encourages its students to go through physical training and drilling in order to prepare them for the military. Faludi stated that faculty members observed “a creeping militarization imposed by the administration upon the Corp’s already drill-heavy regimen,” (Faludi 84). This shows how the administration is supporting the ultra-militarized community that the students are building. By supporting the militarization of the school, they solidify the harsh community the students are building. The institution takes pride in the harsh militarization of its school. The Citadel publishes the military-style orientation in its yearbook, “The Sphynx”. This pride makes students think there