What's your opinion of boarding schools? Is it a form of child neglect, in your opinion?

Neglect might be too strong depending on the circumstance of the kid’s enrollment. If the parents are trying to give an older child (12 years old and up) think they’re giving their kid a better education and aren't just sick of looking at him…ehh, OK. Regardless, if the kid’s 4, why bother having him if you didn’t want him around? Hire a real good tutor.

Yeah I think it's just basically saying you don't want your kid otherwise you would be greatly bothered by the fact that they're not home the majority of the year.


I've been reading a book on women from 60s TV, and they all have several things in common, quite a few of them went to private/boarding whatever kind of school, one of them the people in charge took away her name and gave her another one, another woman, was really little at the time, they took her dolls away from her when she got ready for bed, others got hit, some of them seemed to agree that it's no place to send kids.

alan smithee wrote:

Neglect might be too strong depending on the circumstance of the kid’s enrollment. If the parents are trying to give an older child (12 years old and up) think they’re giving their kid a better education and aren't just sick of looking at him…ehh, OK. Regardless, if the kid’s 4, why bother having him if you didn’t want him around? Hire a real good tutor.

Boarding schools are basically handing your kid over for someone else to raise. I think most the time its about getting the kids out of their hair. . . plus the "better" education. Agree with Alan if parents can't deal with having them around ALL the time then they shouldn't have them.

If your child grows up in boarding school, then how are you bonding with and carving out any kind of decent relationship with then? It's like a nanny who raises the kids, but more extreme.

For older kids (teenagers) I think they can be good. For little kids, no way. That's just sad

And it just burns me up the people who actually defend putting their kids in them, 'oh they have such a great experience, oh they learn so much they couldn't at home', so you want your child to be a glorified orphan so they can get cultured? Freddie Mercury once spoke of being in boarding school and he got it on both ends, from the students AND the teachers, oh yeah that's a nice experience, EVERYBODY has it in for them and they can't come home at the end of the day, yeah every child should be so blessed.

Supernova wrote:

And it just burns me up the people who actually defend putting their kids in them, 'oh they have such a great experience, oh they learn so much they couldn't at home', so you want your child to be a glorified orphan so they can get cultured? Freddie Mercury once spoke of being in boarding school and he got it on both ends, from the students AND the teachers, oh yeah that's a nice experience, EVERYBODY has it in for them and they can't come home at the end of the day, yeah every child should be so blessed.

So I take it you don't revere the idea of a millionaire CEO sending their 14 y/o off to "study" at an "exclusive" French or Swiss boarding school.

You lost me.

IA with TPP. I think it should only be older, HS-aged, kids attending boarding and prep schools. I think it's sad when a ten year old has been sent away to school abroad. Parents should be on hand for most of a child's milestones.

Chris wrote:

What's your opinion of boarding schools? Is it a form of child neglect, in your opinion?

When you look at situations like this it is a lot easier to see why some parents think boarding school is a wonderful idea. These types of school not only provide a child with traditional classroom learning but also exposed to a variety of arts, music and athletic opportunities.

For the parents who send kids to boarding school, for the most part, they are probably not that involved in the kids' lives to begin with, so maybe the atmosphere of boarding school would be a step above the home life. So, even though I would never ever do it, it may not be all that bad of a situation for some kids.

It depends on the age of the child for me. I wouldn't send my child away, but there are situations in which I can see parents sending an older child (high school age) away. Some kids are even choosing it themselves because of the opportunities provided. One girl I worked with last year in in grade 7 now and when she's in grade 9, she'll be going to one of the top boarding schools in the country. She's really excited about it and it has nothing to do with her home life. She comes from a good home but wants what this school has to offer her. She's a lot more mature than many of the other kids, and wants the advantages this school will offer. I've known other kids who've wanted to go away and some who were sent away. I also work with international students who will be heading to boarding school in grade 9.

Boarding school isn't for everyone and it's not where I'd want my kids to go, but I think there are times when it can be a great chance for the kids.