Greetings to everyone. Hope you're all doing good. I'm writing about the effects of boarding school on children. Though it is the primary responsibility of parents to care for their children, it is usually a necessity for parents to allow their child or ward aquire knowledge and skills ( mostly secular education) from a third party. With the fast changing circumstances and trends around us the usual way today is to send them to school.

The means of schooling are basically two. Either the child attend from home or the child stays for the whole term on the school premises and is permitted to go home only on holidays or in rare cases of emergency. This later description is what Is called boarding school system.

Why is the option of sending kids to a boarding facility becoming increasingly popular?

I believe the boarding school system is becoming increasingly popular because of the high cost of living. In defense of my reason I have found out that parents have to work more to make ends meet and cater for increasing responsibilities and therefore may have to work at more than one job or spend more time on the present job they have invariably limiting family time with their children. To make up for that some parents ship of their kid to such schools so that they can focus on providing materially for their kids.

Others believe that such schools often viewed in high esteem would do a better job at educating their child than they ever could so for them boarding school will provide the best environment, free from distraction and a strict moral code for their children.

Advantages

The truth is that while it has its advantages like the child being surrounded by other kids who are there for the purpose of learning thereby provide a competitive atmosphere for learning and high academic performance, strict rules with consequences if defied, which would help the child to be prepared to live in the society teaching the child that he/she is not entitled to do as it please them and fear and respect for authority among others, there are also serious disadvantages from my observation worth considering.

Disadvantages

Most kids are sent to such schools at a tender age. I know of a recent experience of a kid barely above 11 years old who have been sent to one of such schools. My point is this, we tend to copy from people around us and kids are even more ready to copy from others especially their parents or other respected adults. Now if such kids are separated from their parents before they are able to build character they are going to build it from who knows which kind of peers might influence them and they might develop traits that are not desirable.

They are also prone to bully especially from Seniors or even older classmates. Such bullying activities might be physical like hitting or stealing the child's provisions or even emotional bullying like making fun of the kid or shaming them and they might not even know how to handle it because they cannot relate it to their parents. Some of the manage to get through this trauma into senior classes and sometimes even become bullies themselves. So with this cycle what kind of persons are being produced in the society.

Sometimes too the expectations that the competitive atmosphere will drive the kids to learning fails because they might choose the wrong kind of friends and the parents might not be able to put their excesses in check. The atmosphere might also have a negative effect on those not brilliant enough to fit into the circle and since they don't have access to encouragement from their well meaning parents it might make them discouraged and even lead to low self esteem.

The kids may not have a mature person to guide them. While there are teachers, matrons, seniors or other well meaning people who might mentor them they might not be as Open minded or feel at ease to express their feelings as they would with their parents. So they might take advice from their fellow inexperienced peers and might make some wrong decisions that might put their future or even their life in jeopardy, something that might have probably been prevented if they were under the watchful eyes of there parents.

What have you experienced trying to relate to or bond with a someone who spent years in boarding school?

Bonding with a person from that kind of school for me was not a problem as I experience with a friend but I also noticed he didn't relate well with the other gender at first since it was an a "boys only School" but he adjusted quickly though I believe that everyone is different and would react differently.

Another experience have exposed me to the fact that staying in a boarding facility does not automatically make one intelligent. It can also breed characters in a kid like stubbornness and resilience to punishment since they face a lot of it in school

Would you send your kids to a boarding school?What are your reasons?

I don't believe that I'll need to send my kids to such schools while I believe that secular education is important it does not superceed home trianing so I intend for my kids to get enough of both. While school will help kids learn skills that can help them make a living home training make them responsible adult thereby helping them keep the jobs their certificate finds them.

Do boarding school really provide people who are ready to cope with the reality of life without the traditional parental guidance?

Well, granted just like other schools boarding schools can be a good place to acquire skills needed to secure jobs and maintain them to some extent. Since discipline and hard work are emphasized the student can use such character to maintain a good work ethic. But then I wouldn't say they a prepared to face the reality of life without parental guidance be life goes beyond working or earning it still has a lot to do with relating with people and drawing from parental guidance would help the do better in that aspect.

Can the discipline obtained from such institutions equal that of parents at home? What can't be learnt in the boarding facility? Do you think they are missing out any aspect of their development?

The discipline obtained from boarding facilities can't be equal that if the parents because the kid observe a different motivation for the discipline. The discipline at school is mostly cold, the kid might not even understand the reason behind a particular rule and when punished for breaking it might even spite the one enforcing the rules seen the as just a force of power that can be evaded when possible and as seen in many cases the students often find loopholes in the system to break some rules.

Parents on the other hand administer discipline with love they mostly explain why obeying the rule is in the best interest of the child and the child is easily convinced because it is difficult to doubt that the parents don't love them, so they strive to obey to make their parents happy and reciprocate the love. The result is that the society is filled with adults with strong moral values who see laws as a protection and not a restriction and are willing to work and maintain the order of the society.

So in conclusion I do not condemn the boarding school system or anyone who makes the decision to send their kids to such schools but for me the disadvantages outweigh the benefits since such benefits can still be achieved it the child attend school from home.

@chukwu10, @goodybest, @wilmer1968.