Classwork and the Corps—The Symbiotic Relationship Between Curricular and Co-Curricular Learning for Military Cadets Majoring in History

Katherine E. Rohrer; Matthew J. Smith

doi:10.20343/teachlearninqu.13.60

Authors

Katherine E. Rohrer University of North Georgia
Matthew J. Smith Valdosta State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.13.60

Keywords:

co-curricular, history education, military education, narrative inquiry, cadets

Abstract

Formal post-secondary education is a critical component of the development from cadets to prospective officers at a United States senior military college. This narrative inquiry study articulates that a strong symbiotic relationship exists between student success in the Corps of Cadets at a senior military college and student success in history classes. Alternately, student success in the Corps of Cadets engendered student success in history classes and vice versa. This relationship is present concerning cadets’ academic, personal, and professional development. Study participants identified the value of both their curricular learning through history courses as well as their co-curricular engagements in the Corps of Cadets. Plowing new ground, this study explores a population—namely cadet officers at a United States senior military college—that researchers have largely neglected from scholarship in higher education at large and the scholarship of teaching and learning in particular.

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Author Biographies

Katherine E. Rohrer, University of North Georgia

Katherine E. Rohrer (USA) is an associate professor of history at the University of North Georgia. She is a historian of the 19th-century United States South but also pursues research in SoTL and higher education, particularly within humanities education.

Matthew J. Smith, Valdosta State University

Matthew J. Smith (USA) is a lecturer of higher education leadership at Valdosta State University. His research interests are in co-curricular learning, sense of belonging, and graduate/professional student learning and development.

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