Using Monte Carlo simulations we study cooling-rate effects in a three-dime
nsional Ising model with four-spin interactions. During coarsening, this mo
del develops growing energy barriers, which at low temperature lead to very
slow dynamics. We show that the characteristic zero-temperature length inc
reases very slowly with the inverse cooling rate, similarly to the behavior
of ordinary glasses. For computationally accessible cooling rates the mode
l undergoes an ideal glassy transition, i.e., the glassy transition for a v
ery small cooling rate coincides with a thermodynamic singularity. We also
study the cooling of this model with a certain fraction of spins fixed. Due
to such heterogeneous crystallization seeds, the final state strongly depe
nds on the cooling rate. Only for a sufficiently fast cooling rate does the
system end up in a glassy state, while slow cooling inevitably leads to a
crystal phase.