Five Key Misconceptions About Boarding School – A Parent’s Perspective

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This post was written by a guest blogger who is the parent of a recent Leelanau School graduate. Their hope is that writing about their own family’s experiences will help others find a best fit school for their children too.

Boarding schools evoke strong images in the mind of many, in part based on the strong images about them from popular culture and hold-overs from the role they played in an earlier era.  Today, boarding schools can be a compelling option that can immensely improve a student’s prospects, and they shouldn’t be dismissed by those families who could benefit from them.

Boarding Schools In Our Culture

Despite the fact that only a sliver of a fraction of high school students attend boarding schools, they remain iconic in our culture.  Perhaps the most famous boarding school of our day is Hogwarts, where Harry Potter and gang attended. Hogwarts stands on the illustrious shoulders of other boarding schools from fiction including Percy Prep from Catcher in the Rye, and movies such as Dead Poet’s Society, School Ties, and Scent of a Woman.

While none of these schools actually exist, they help perpetuate some of the misconceptions that are likely prevalent about boarding schools today.  

At first glance, misconceptions about boarding schools might not seem to be a meaningful issue, but misconceptions present a problem when they keep families from considering boarding school as an option. 

Many more students could benefit from the unique learning and living experience boarding school offers. While many students attend for all four years of high school, there are also quite a few who choose to attend for a portion of high school for a pre-college experience.

What’s keeping more families from considering Boarding School? 

Here are five key misconceptions about boarding school:

1 | Boarding Schools Are Only For Rich Kids

If you think that a student can benefit from boarding school, then it is worth exploring the options available to help financially. When it comes to finances, attending boarding school today is like attending college with a wide variety of plans and options available for families including:

• Financial Aid: several schools provide financial aid to over 70% of their students, while on average about a third of boarding school students receive some form of financial aid, according to Boarding School Review 
• Loans: boarding school loans are now more readily available including those from established sources such as Your Tuition Solution
• Merit Awards and Scholarships: Financial assistance in this form is available, but, as with colleges, they tend to be smaller and more selective than financial aid and loan options

2 | Boarding Schools Have Overall Strict Discipline

Frankly, one of the advantages of boarding school is the potential for a greater level of supervision which can reduce the impact of negative behaviors.  In the past, many institutions reflected the more severe approach to discipline and behavior of an earlier era. While boarding schools still put an emphasis on cultivating good behavior, the days of grim conformity are generally over. 

In fact, the environment of a modern boarding school tends to encourage healthy friendships and fun activities.  The schools try to encourage independence, so students often have many choices in how they spend their free time – along with support from the school and the availability of friends.

3 | Boarding School Are Only For Students Who Are Academically Hyper-Competitive

One of the great advantages of a boarding school is a superior learning environment which can come from a carefully curated college prep curriculum, dedicated teachers, small class size and extra individualized attention.  This type of environment naturally draws some academically elite students looking to hone their edge when applying to selective colleges. However, these same resources benefit a range of students; virtually anyone would benefit from this academic offering.  Thus, those students with learning differences or attention challenges in a typical school setting can reap major rewards.

4 | Boarding Schools Are For Mixed-Up Kids

At the other end of the spectrum, some people associate boarding schools with students who are struggling or can’t ‘make it’ at their local school.  The fact is that there is enormous diversity among the students attending the roughly 300 boarding schools in the US. Some schools are identified as strictly college prep, while there are plenty of others that focus on music and the arts, appeal to the ‘whole learner,’ or are specialized in some other way.

The reality is that all teenagers can benefit from some guidance and coaching to bring out their better selves. With low student-faculty ratios, boarding schools are an excellent academic setting for all students, including those with learning differences and attention issues.

5 | Boarding School Students Lose Touch With Family and Local Friends

This misconception breaks down between how boarding school impacts relationships with parents, and how it impacts relationships with siblings and local peers.

For the parent-child relationship, boarding school can reduce some sources of strain. Some parents feel they are put in the role of ‘enforcer’ for the school for getting homework completed.  At boarding school students tend to keep on top of assignments and get more support to allow them to flourish academically. Parents can share in celebrating successes and discuss topics from classes – rather than being ‘homework cop’ for the school.

For siblings and peers from the local area, the separation of boarding school naturally presents some challenges, but for all of the criticism that social media and mobile communication gets, it does close the distances for teens who want to maintain relationships.  Many boarding students find they have two sets of friends – school and home.

Don’t Let Misconceptions Get In The Way 

If you think your family could benefit from boarding school for any number of reasons, don’t let misconceptions about boarding school prevent you from exploring this potentially radical and transformative opportunity.

  

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PIQUED YOUR INTEREST? Check out our post How Boarding School Can Improve Family Relationships