Boarding school - good idea or bad idea?

[mudskipper]

You effing nutter have you been on the mandrake root wine again?

FTFY

[mudskipper]

OH God I read all those and the Twins at St Clares - I loved them and I re-read them again when my daughter was in to them.

Boarding school and a pony. My 8 yr old life would have been complete.

[mudskipper]

Boarding school and a pony. My 8 yr old life would have been complete.

(And no, pony is not a euphemism.)

[DodgyAgent]

Dodgy is a business owner and all your mates work for him.

HTH

Just think how many contractors you need to rip off to pay for all those school fees

[AtW]

Just think how many contractors you need to rip off to pay for all those school fees

1 or 10?

[DodgyAgent]

1 or 10?

Contractors to pay for school fees or kids through school?

[OwlHoot]

Boarding school and a pony. My 8 yr old life would have been complete.

You're not saying you were constipated even then?

[OwlHoot]

Is it Roald Dahl's autobiography where he talks about older boys yelling "FAG!" when they needed a job doing, and whichever boy got there last had to do it?

And what's wrong with that? Don't forget the young boys doing the running and fetching would also have came from rich families, and that would probably be the one time in their life when they had first hand experience of being ordered around like skivvies. So for most it would have made them a bit more considerate in later life when managing others.

[Mich the Tester]

You have now lost sight of objectivity here -things have moved since the old days . I went to boarding school at 7 and all my children so far have been to them albeit from 13. My first boarding school was one of the cruelest places on earth and parents didnt really want to know. Boarding is not right for every child but for me and my children (public school onwards) it was fantastic. The first thing it teaches you is independence - for good or bad- and it also when it works gives children confidence. And provided that confidence does'nt turn into cockiness (usually the fult of parents) it gives one a great start in life. If you are a confident sort or good at something (every child usually is) then it is great. For a lot of children it can be miserable but that tends to be the fault of the school and or the parents.
The other key is the terms of engagement. As long as children are not allowed to "coast" and have the full attention of teachers and housemasters then they will not fail.
Nowadays boarding schools are overwhelmingly inclusive with the parents and they now aspire to building parent associations to make the parents feel comfortable visiting the school and engaging with teachers and housemasters in particular. One o fthe great things about competition is that these schools are constantly striving for improvement and nowadays with so much information being so freely available it is difficult for bad private schools to hide.
One of the things I have learnt is never to be intimidated by "poshness" or "wealth" which is what happens to many who have come from the state sector who reveal their chippiness on the subject of private school.
As for day schools I am not sure I like the idea of having teenage kids hanging around the town after school. Incascerate them in a boarding school and bring them out at weekends

You could have copied that from a 1980s public school prospectus. Sorry, but I've seen the promises and they were empty then; why should I believe them now?

[d000hg]

And what's wrong with that? Don't forget the young boys doing the running and fetching would also have came from rich families, and that would probably be the one time in their life when they had first hand experience of being ordered around like skivvies. So for most it would have made them a bit more considerate in later life when managing others.

I think it more likely it would teach them that this kind of 'management' was acceptable... for a start it's clearly self-perpetuating in the school, which means the new kids end up bullying the new, new kids when they are the old kids. Same as how abusive parents were often abused by their parents.