Lords of Discipline


Conroy, Pat


This book purportedly describes life in a fictional military academy, similar to The Citadel in South Carolina. The student requirements include endless marching, battle drills, memorizing of useless information, dress codes, bedroom checks, humiliation/hazing by upperclassmen, etc. Some may argue that this is a “true picture of life in the military.” But is it necessary for our minor children to be asked to read and study this crude content in order to understand one man’s idea about military school?

The story contains a subplot about a secret society of students and faculty whose job it is to protect the purity and strength of the student body by getting rid of those who don't meet their standards (for example, the Academy’s first black student). Another subplot deals with a pregnant girl who has sex with one student (Will) while carrying another student’s (Tradd) baby.

Tradd, an unpopular boy, betrays his roommates which introduces a series of disasters: one student dies, one leaves the Academy just before graduation, and one gets his diploma through blackmail. By the end of the book, Tradd, now alone and without a friend, is miserable. Will does experience some personal growth by the last page, but the “end does not justify the means” and the vulgarity of the passages below speak for themselves.

Conroy states (in My Losing Season): “My books are all disfigured by the sullen presence of my child-beating father, Don Conroy, and this one is no exception. I can remember hating him when I was a two-year-old boy and first came to consciousness when my mother tried to stab him with a butcher knife and he backhanded her to the floor, laughing, a scene I observed from my high chair.”

Parents, please be aware that Conroy's books contain a great deal of vulgarity and profane language. However, Blue Valley Communication Arts teachers love this author. Not only do they assign Lords of Discipline, but they ask our kids to read three other Conroy books in various classes. Conroy's other Blue Valley textbooks are My Losing Season, The Great Santini, and The Water is Wide.
Some of the language includes motherfucker/fucker/fuck/fuckstick, pussy, cunt, douchebag, poontang, slut, suck my dick, shit, piss, asswipe, bastard.

According to a Blue Valley West CA IV syllabus, this book is "a huge student favorite."

Excerpts:

The following statements are a portion of a review written by a Blue Valley Communication Art teacher. To read these reviews, ask for the documentation in your school library.
"Lords of Discipline is written with great understanding about the passage of youth into manhood and to this date relates better to that subject matter than any book I have experienced. Conroy's style of writing hooks the reader and his vocabulary is extensive and intelligent."


The following article by the Green Bay Press-Gazette provides more information about other parental concerns. Controversial book...