Christian college requires students to take military science course to encourage patriotism

A private Christian college in Missouri is requiring all freshmen to take a military science course in an attempt to encourage patriotism among students.

The College of the Ozarks recently introduced the Patriotic Education and Fitness class, which will teach new students about military customs, American flag protocol, map reading and marksmanship, among other subjects.

"There is too much of an indifference toward the military in this country, and people seem to have forgotten that people in the military are the ones that continue to make the sacrifices for the rest of us," Jerry Davis, the president of the 1,500-student college, told Fox News.

Davis said that the new course "helps support the college's patriotic goal" and noted that it would count toward ROTC fulfillments if interested students wanted to pursue that program.

According to The Chronicle on Higher Education, the course was introduced last year as a retooled version of previous courses in physical education and patriotism.

Apart from military customs, the course will also teach students about the formation American government and politics.

Bryan Cizek, the college's director of patriotic activities, noted that the school wants to introduce the idea of military service to students, but it is not requiring them to be a cadet or join the military.

Davis noted that students have reacted positively to the curriculum and said he hopes other schools would follow suit.

The Christian college made headlines in September after it announced that its sports teams would not compete with schools whose athletes kneel during the National Anthem.

"We just are not comfortable with that sort of thing going on here, we think it undermines the school and is a bad example to young people," Davis told Fox News. "We think we are all Americans and everyone should respect the country and the flag -- and of course we can deal with that what people believe to be problems in a different context," he added.

He expressed disappointment that the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, the conference the college competes in, does not have a set policy of how athletes should conduct themselves during the National Anthem.

Davis stressed that the new patriotism course was not in response to the controversy over athletes kneeling during the anthem. He said that students at the school "have practiced respect for this country" long before the controversy erupted this year. "It's not something that we just dreamed up as a reaction to something," he added.

Apart from the new course, the school also has other programs to bolster patriotism, including sending students and veterans to battlefields around the world, a yearly Fourth of July blowout that draws thousands, and hosting speakers such as Gen. Colin Powell and Gen. Peter Pace.