Undergraduate political science courses should include more material on the U.S. military and warfare, scholars said at the annual American Political Science Association meeting in late August, an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Some students and faculty at AU said an increase in military-oriented courses would benefit students, but only if demand for such classes exists.
Student requests would be required to offer more military-oriented courses here, said Susan Shepler, a professor of international peace and conflict resolution in AU's School of International Service. The demand for these classes has yet to be seen, she said. SIS provides numerous classes on conflict theory and history, she said.
Any topic with high demand from students and faculty is worth offering, according to Tim La Pira, the director of the School of Public Affairs' Leadership Program. He agreed that military studies, like any course related to government and politics, would enrich a student's understanding of how the government works.
"What happens with the military in the government and [its] actions is important to learn," La Pira said.
Other colleges have added courses on military studies after receiving overwhelming student demand.
"There's a huge amount of interest and also a huge amount of ignorance [on military studies]," Lt. Col. Anne Daugherty Miles, a retired Air Force officer and an adjunct professor of political science at St. Mary's College of Maryland, told The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Four years ago, Miles received more than 100 positive responses from students at St. Mary's after she sent an e-mail to the student body offering a class on the relationship between the Pentagon and the federal government, according to the article. This signifies that a large number of students, at least at St. Mary's, would be willing to take courses on military studies.
One local professor agreed that general information about the military would be useful to students.
Lt. Col. Daniel C. Koprowski, a professor of military science at the Hoya Battalion, shared this view. The "nuts and bolts," meaning field tactics and procedures, aren't necessary for most students to know, but being aware of the military's role in the country is important.
"It's helpful to understand the process by which the military is committed to providing a service to this country," Koprowski said.
The Hoya Battalion is Georgetown University's ROTC Program, which, according to its Web site, recruits students from AU, George Washington University, Catholic University and Marymount University.
Brendon Bowen is a junior in SPA and a cadet sergeant in this program. He said in the long run, military instruction would help government leaders understand how to better manage global conflicts.
"It would definitely help in global issues and conflicts like Iraq because political leaders would be versed on the capabilities of our military," Bowen said.
Courses in military history could possibly help students improve their understanding of the past, which in turn, improves decisions made in the future, said Ayah Nuriddin, a junior in SIS and the College of Arts and Sciences. Politicians today are stuck in a "Cold War paradigm" which prevents them from making new ideas or decisions that would alleviate issues like the war in Iraq, Nuriddin said.
