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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Many boarding schools have counsellors, staff, coaches and teachers that are there almost everyday to help students and support them. This does not reflect the real world where a young adult has to figure stuff out for themselves and be their own best counsellor.

Then there are the lavish facilities, trips and even laundry service. What, they even have people who do you laundry and neatly fold it up for you?

So here is my question why do mothers, yes it is usually the mothers, encourage their kids to attend these institutions?

I myself was a bit of a latchkey kid. I came home almost everyday to an empty home. However, it wasn't a problem. I wasn't lonely, especially as I got older. I developed study habits independently and did my homework because it needed to get done. I also had time to rest, relax and have a snack after a long day of school.

Oh, and by the way my mom was quite wealthy. Not that this matters, but I am certain I would get a few posts saying "I'm glad I wasn't poor like  you". [/quote]

I don’t know many people who encourage their children to attend boarding school unless they are:
(A) struggling in some way (substance abuse/anxieties/ dysfunctional home life);
(B) learning differences such as ADHD not being supported well in regular school: or
(C) living in developing country/ remotes area  for work and not happy with the local schools.

I don’t think it is that common in major urban areas such as DMV where there are many good school choices, both public and private and many forms of therapy available. But there are some private schools here that take boarders and day students (St Albans, Sandy Springs Friends, Madeira and Episcopal High School for example). I believe that often the reason is parents are working abroad or would have a very long commute.

This research out of Australia found comparable educational outcomes between boarding and day school students.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.608949/full[/quote]

This is just not true.

In DC boarding is not popular, but in New England and New York it is very, very common. Like, of my private K-8 class in Boston of 30 kids, only 4 didn't attend a boarding school. And this is still the case today. Your understanding of the boarding school world is limited.

Additionally, I would say most of the day student (public or private) kids with whom I attended college struggled far more with independence than the boarding school kids did freshman year. You make your own choices at boarding school in a wide variety of areas because you don't have parents on top of you in so many ways. Boarding schools give kids a lot of structure, but then withing that structure, kids make their choices.

So you have classes, then dinner, then study hall then lights out (for younger students) at X time- but beyond that, kids have total freedom to do actual homework or screw around, actually go to sleep or stay up, eat crap food or healthy food, etc. No parent actually checking to see if homework is complete or that they ate 5 bags of chips for dinner.

That said, its not for everyone or every kid. And its very expensive. I likely won't send my kids to boarding school because in DC its not common and its really far coming from down here to get to the good schools. But its still a wonderful experience and option worth looking at for many families.[/quote]

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