Is military training necessary for freshmen?

teamkrejados (US)

In America, students can choose to take part in ROTC: Reserve Officers' Training Corps. This is done on a voluntary basis and the activities happen all year.

In some European and Middle Eastern countries, military service for males is compulsory, usually two years.

Chinese military training in colleges seems rather pointless. There is no follow-through after the initial eight day drilling and subsequent parade, unless you count morning exercise, which most freshmen seem to hate. After freshman year there is no hint of that military discipline.

I would advocate for an indoctrination period for freshmen that included military drilling, but then offer something like America's ROTC for those who are interested in keeping that discipline and getting extra credits on their graduation certificate. Second choice would be to continue drilling at least once per week. At my school, Wednesday afternoons are reserved for teachers' conferences, thus there are no classes. That would be an ideal time.

University freshmen march in line during military training at Tsinghua University, Sept 19, 2014. [Photo/IC]