The purpose of this syllabus is to provide cadets and guardians with information concerning course descriptions, grading policy, material students are required to maintain, academic standards, disenrollment policy, and other expectations. Leadership education in the Junior ROTC program offers a unique opportunity for students to develop their leadership and managerial skills.  Students completing the Leadership Education – Army JROTC pathway have unlimited opportunities for post secondary education or employment in both the public and private sector.  A leadership pathway is ideally suited for students interested in pursuing a career in business or public management and administration, Foreign Service, governance, national security, small business development, or human resources. One of the fastest growing areas of employment is in federal service particularly in the areas of leadership positions in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields.  Leaders must have strong communication skills, work ethics and the ability to develop teamwork and teambuilding skills.  In addition to employment in the private sector, numerous leadership opportunities exist for students electing to join the armed forces.  There are more than 2,000 career opportunities.  High demand fields may include medical, aviation, engineering, maintenance, technology, communications and intelligence.  Students interested in pursuing a career as a military officer may enroll in Senior ROTC (college preparation programs).  Scholarship opportunities are available for all branches of military service.

 

This program of study will help students build a strong knowledge base of self discovery and leadership skills applicable to many leadership and managerial situations.  Mastery of the Army Junior ROTC standards through project-based learning, service learning and leadership development activities will prepare students for 21st Century leadership responsibilities.  The curriculum focus is reflected in its mission statement, “To motivate young people to be better citizens”.

 

This program intends to teach students to:

• Maximize potential for success through learning and self-management

• Develop leadership skills

• Incorporate principles of mental and physical wellness into behaviors and decisions

• Build effective relationships with peers, co-workers, and the community

• Apply physical and political geography to building global awareness

• Correlate the rights and responsibilities of citizenship to the purposes of the U.S. government

• Relate events in U.S. history to choices and responsibilities Americans have today

• Characterize the role of the military and other national service organizations in building a democracy and maintaining peace in a democratic society.

Students are encouraged to participate in the numerous community and service learning projects that are scheduled throughout the school year. The Junior ROTC curriculum is enhanced through extracurricular and co-curricular activities including an annual formal event, competitive and community Color Guard teams, Exhibition and Standard Drill Teams, Raider Challenge Teams (rope bridge building, map reading, orienteering and physical fitness) and Academic Bowl and Leadership Teams.  In addition, Junior ROTC programs support Varsity Air Rifle Teams, a Georgia High School Association sanctioned sport.  The integration of practical work with theory is fundamental to the program.  A selected number of students may participate in an experiential summer leadership development program (JROTC Cadet Leadership Challenge). Students are expected to wear an issued uniform once a week and meet specified grooming standards.

 

3.  The acronym LET means leadership, education, and training.  There are four LET levels.  LET 1 includes cadets in their first semester of the program.  Once a cadet passes a semester of JROTC, he/she becomes a LET 2 and so on.  Each level must total 180 academic hours or the same number of academic hours needed to meet the curriculum requirements for 1.0 credit in courses such as Math or English.  Host institutions are required to award credit, preferably core credit in an academic discipline, toward graduation for each year of the JROTC program.  The below paragraphs describe the various LET levels:

 

a. Description LET 1.  This laboratory course is designed to introduce students to the history, customs, traditions and purpose of the Army JROTC program.  It teaches students strategies to maximize their potential for success through learning and self-management.  Basic leadership skills to include leadership principles, values and attributes and communications skills are integrated throughout the course.

 

b. Description LET 2.  This laboratory course is designed to build on the self discovery skills sets taught in LET 1.  As self directed learners, students study the fundamentals citizenship skills, the foundation of the American political system and our Constitution.  Personal responsibility and wellness is reinforced by diet, nutrition and physical fitness activities. Drug and alcohol awareness and prevention are reinforced.  Students are placed in leadership roles that enable them to demonstrate an understanding of basic leadership principles, values and attributes.

 

c. Description LET 3.  This laboratory course is designed to build on the leadership experiences developed during LET 1 and 2.  Basic command and staff principles are introduced and include an overview of organizational roles and responsibilities. Leadership strategies, managing conflict, leading others, planning and communications skills are evaluated to improve organizational effectiveness.   Career planning is investigated.

 

d. Description LET 4: This laboratory course is designed build on the leadership skills developed in LET 3.  Students develop an in-depth understanding of the branches of military service. Intermediate leadership skills to include leadership principles, values and attributes and communications skills are integrated throughout the course. Financial planning is incorporated through the National Endowment for Financial Education.  Fundamental teaching skills are introduced.

 

4.  Grading Policy:

 

            a. LET 1-4

                - Home work – 10%

                -Classwork/Participation - 40%

                -Test/Quizzes – 20%

   -Projects/Laboratory (uniform inspections) - 30% (cadets designated as students will dress in business attire); to receive credit, cadets must correctly wear their approved uniform the entire school day.

 

            b. All formal and informal inspections are considered major exams which is 15% of a student’s grade.

 

5.  Student Materials:

a. JROTC Curriculum Books: Instructors will issue curriculum books, if required, at the beginning of each class session.  Text books most often used include the Leadership, Education and Training (LET) 1, 2, 3, and 4 books and Foundation for Success.  The books are not to be taken out of the classroom unless instructed otherwise.

 

b. Cadet Portfolio:  Every cadet will create a portfolio that contains an organized collection of work based on accomplishments, personality, and aspirations.  Students may be required to purchase their own portfolio to be maintained in the classroom.  The portfolio will begin upon the cadet’s enrollment into the JROTC program and will be maintained for the duration of his/her enrollment.  The portfolio will reflect the cadet’s work, and provide insight and information on the cadet’s personal achievements and growth over time.

 

6.  Academic Standards:

a. JROTC's curriculum is based on a systematic progression of learning.  The scope, focus, and content of instruction are both sequential and independent.  The leadership unit of instruction allows for one of many training opportunities for cadets to exercise a student chain of command.  Fourth-year cadets act on guidance from the Senior Army Instructor of Army Instructor to plan, prepare, and execute training.  They also prepare for assigned tasks and conduct training for junior cadets.  Third-year cadets learn instructional techniques and more advanced style of leadership.  Fist and second- year cadets receive education and training.  Training is designed to enhance skills, knowledge, and abilities, of cadets and reinforce instruction in leadership theory.

 

b. The weekly training schedule is as follows:

- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - Academic subjects

- Tuesday - After school tutorial from 4:15 PM until 5:15 PM

- Thursday - Uniform inspection and/or academic subjects

- Friday – Topic discussions, academic subjects, lesson completions, assessments, marching drills, and/or recovery work

            

7. Uniform Standards:

a. Cadets will wear an Army issued uniform once a week unless instructed otherwise.  The JROTC program is a uniformed program where discipline is judged, in part, by the manner in which cadets wear a prescribed uniform as well as by the individual’s personal appearance.  Cadets who refuse to wear the uniform can be disenrolled from the program.  Cadets who can not be disenrolled will serve as participating students and may potentially fail the class and receive zero JROTC credits.

 

b. Male cadets: The face will be clean shaven, except for permitted mustaches.  Male cadets are not authorized to wear braids, cornrows, or dreadlocks (unkempt, twisted, matted, individual parts of hair) while in uniform.  Male cadets who are not willing to comply with the hair policy are not permitted in the program.

 

c. Female cadets: Hairstyles will not fall below the eyebrows or extend below the bottom edge of the collar.  Hairstyles will not interfere with the proper wearing of the military headgear.  Braids or cornrolls may be worn as long as they are conservative.  Hair can not be multi-color and must be of natural HUMAN hair color.

 

d. Uniform guidelines include, but are not limited to the following:

- Extreme, eccentric, or trendy haircuts, hairstyles, or hair colors are not

  authorized to include high top mo-hocks or dreads

-Male cadets can not wear braids

- Male cadets are not permitted to wear any type of ear ring or body   piercing ring

- No body piercing rings allowed

- No more than two total rings are authorized

- No rings of any type are worn with the Army Combat Uniform (ACU)

                        - Shirts and pants will be ironed

- Pants/trousers of all types will be worn in a normal manner at the waist

- Female cadets’ hair must be of natural human hair color and pinned

   using hair ornaments the color of their hair

                        - Fingernails will be neatly trimmed and clean

- Nail polish can not be of a faddish color to include purple, black, white, multi-color, pink, florescent, yellow, ect

- Female cadets may only wear diamond, pear, silver, or gold spherical (round) stud ear rings no larger than ¼ in diameter

- Female cadets are authorized to wear only one pair of ear rings (one in each ear) and only in the first ear lube

 

e. Uniforms and accessories will be issued to all cadets who meet the requirement title of cadet and if the uniform is available.  All cadets must be prepared to wear their uniforms on the date established by their instructor.  Failure to properly maintain accountability and/or loss of the uniform or uniform accessories will result in a replace cost paid by the cadets or the cadet’s parents.  A hold notice will be placed on the overall Benjamin Banneker High School grades until the uniform accountability is settled.

 

8.  Disenrollment from JROTC program: cadets/students may be disenrolled from the program as a result of the following:

  a. Withdrawal from school

  b. Demonstrate ineptitude for leadership training indicated by a general lack of adaptability

  c. Fail to keep an accountable standard of academic achievement, conduct, appearance, or attendance

  d. Exhibit undesirable character traits such as lying, cheating or stealing

  e. Unauthorized possession of illegal drugs or substances

  f.  Exhibits an indifference to and lack of interest in citizenship and leadership training

  g. Refusal to wear the JROTC uniform on prescribed days

 

9.  Attendance: Class attendance contributes significantly to academic success.  Students who attend classes regularly tend too earn higher grades and have higher passing rates. Cadets who are absent for any reasons are responsible for contacting their instructors and for making up all missed assignments.

 

10.  Academic Honesty: Cadets are expected to complete their own assignments unless advised that collaboration is acceptable.  Cadets may use facts from other sources if they re-write them in their own words.  Anytime cadets quote directly from another source or paraphrase they must cite the source used.  When cadets take a test, they are expected not to copy answers from other cadets’ tests and are expected to protect their test answers from being copied by other cadets.  Cadets discovered cheating will earn a zero.

 

11.  Cadets must identify any thoughts, quotations, plans, ideas, statements, sayings, drawings, and/or materiel of any kind that is not his/her own work by citing the reference used.  To do otherwise is considered plagiarism.  Plagiarism occurs when a cadet “uses, without giving reasonable and appropriate credit to or acknowledging the author or source, of another person's original work, whether such work is made up of code, formulas, ideas, language, research, strategies, writing or other form."  Plagiarism also includes copying and pasting and is considered academic dishonesty and may result in a failing grade.

• Yale views plagiarism as the "use of another's work, words, or ideas without attribution" which includes "using a source's language without quoting, using information from a source without attribution, and paraphrasing a source in a form that stays too close to the original."

 

12.  Recovery Policy:  Opportunities designed to allow cadets to recover from a low or failing cumulative grade will be allowed when all required assignments are completed.

a. Cadets must demonstrate a legitimate effort to meet all course requirements

including attendance.

b. All recovery work will be directly related to course objectives and must be completed five school days prior to the end of the semester.

c. Cadets may earn no higher than 70 points on any recovery work

d. Cadets will sign and date receipt of a recovery packet.

 

13.  All cadets are expected to comply with both the Fulton County Code of Conduct & Discipline Handbook, Benjamin Banneker Parent/Student Handbook, The Trojan Battalion JROTC policies, and Cadet Command Regulation (CCR 145-2) which are used as guides to the program’s organizational structure, promotion system, awards program, and uniform requirements.