Why you should think twice before sending your daughter to boarding school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the record my mom, and two aunts attended boarding schools, as did one of my grandparents, and many acquaintances. I was reviewing info anecdotes and yearbooks related to boarding schools and it is very apparent that girls often have a tough time at them. They often remark that it was a hard and challenging experience and praise their teachers and friends for putting up with them and their emotions. They also often say many tears were shed and grade 8 was the hardest.

Oddly, in their year books many said it was "worth it". Will they say the same thing years later?

Now knowing all this, why do parents send their kids to them. They seem like they could do a lot of damage

OP wrote: "and grade 8 was the hardest."

Very few few boarding schools offer an 8th grade; most boarding schools start at 9th grade and many entering 9th grade do so as repeat students in order to gain an edge athletically and academically in college admissions.

There are a few junior boarding schools and the Groton School does start with a small 8th grade cohort, but 8th grade is uncommon at boarding schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gosh, you know what? I often had a tough time at public school in my local district. It was a hard and challenging experience and many tears were shed.

Knowing this, why do parents send their kids to public school? They seem like they could do a lot of damage.

+1. In 8th grade public I figured out smoking, drinking, sex, and pot. I skipped class for most of 8th grade. However, I showed up for exams and turned in assignments on time. Got straight As. I forged my moms signature on my absence notes. My parents had no idea that what I was doing while I was supposed to be at school. I left for school on time and came home when it was expected.

Your parents were clearly uninvolved and clueless.

Welcome to the Gen X experience.

+1

My parents involvement with school was reading the report card that came home. They didn't even know what time I got home. Kids matured faster. It was a different era.

[Anonymous]

Boarding was the best thing that ever happened to me, but I was living in subsidized housing in a crap town.

It's less clear to me what the point is if you have a well adjusted family and better school options. I did get a very good education, but it was very humanities-oriented, math and science curriculum was pretty awful. And I never made friends with the popular preppy kids, though never experienced bullying or outright exclusion.

Judging by Facebook, the popular kids have done well for themselves, but no one has an amazing career. Not sure if they'd been better or worse off at their local public school.