Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-4141313-20181215021300/@comment-4010415-20181229225329

SomeoneYouUsedToKnow wrote:

As for indoctrinating students into the military, that's the wrong word. It doesn't indoctrinate, it pressures. Indoctrination would be trying to make you another Caroline Cordovin. That said, Atlas's students would become Special Operatives, which IMO would be more outstanding than merely "just another soldier". There is some indoctrination involved, according to WoR: Huntsmen.

"However, Atlas Academy has come under increasing amounts of scrutiny for the indoctrination of military lifestyle upon its students, pressuring them to enlist in the Atlas Military's Special Operatives unit."

Basically, Atlas Academy has a more militaristic style applied to its students than the other three Huntsman Academies, getting them used to being treated like a soldier, indoctrinating them into the mindset, and thus making it easier to pressure them to join the military. They're already used to it, so even if they had reservations about joining the military when they started their first year at the school, they may have changed their minds by the end of their fourth year.

Honestly, the more militaristic style of Atlas Academy could be why Weiss pushed so hard to not attend there like Jacques wanted. It's implied, at least by the first manga and somewhat by Winter, that her reason for wanting to attend Beacon instead was so she could spread her wings, get some breathing room, distance herself from the Atlas lifestyle and her home life so she could learn a little about who she is as a singular person. Staying in Atlas and attending Atlas Academy would've been the opposite.