The Drawbacks of Boarding Schools

When you’re considering sending your child to a boarding school, it’s a huge decision so it’s important that you have fully considered both the potential drawbacks and the possible advantages to your child. Remember that a child attending a boarding school will spend far more time there than at a day school, so this will impact their social and psychological development as well as their educational progress.

Before reading through the drawbacks, below, remember that their impact will differ depending on which kind of school you opt for. There are various different kinds of boarding schools available, including weekly boarding, when your child will stay at the school during the week and then go home for weekends; full boarding, where a student stays at school until the end of term, and “day boarding”, when a child stays at school for an extended day, usually eating all their meals at school but sleeping at home every night.

The majority of the disadvantages of boarding listed below focus on the most “extreme” type, full boarding.

Potentially Intensive Periods of Stress

When a child is spending all of his or her time at school, this can result in extreme periods of stress for children. Those with tendencies towards things like eating disorders or panic attacks may be driven on with this if someone else in their “group” at school is a sufferer. Of course, this can occur within day schools too but may be particularly intense within a boarding school environment. Likewise, during exam periods when all of the kids in a certain age group are feeling tense and concerned, this can rub off on other students to create a frenzied environment.

Missing Out on Home Life

When your child goes to boarding school there will inevitably be some ramifications on your home environment. It may be difficult for your child to adjust to being at home during the holidays; older children may argue with parents about their comparative lack of independence while at home. During the term time you will not be seeing your child as much as you would if they lived at home with you, and this will affect your relationship with your child, and potentially your other children too. You may also be less “in tune” with their lives, interests, hobbies, and friendships, likewise they may feel the same about the lives of friends and family at home.

Less Free Time and More Rules

With the extra academic and extra curricular opportunities at boarding school, children may have less time to be alone with their thoughts and personal interests. This might mean less time for things like reading, or, for older children, having a part-time job or any of the other important developmental activities that can be offered to children living at home. Often the boarding school day is highly structured with lots of rules and regulations, which can lead to some children wanting to “rebel” against the grain. But obviously this depends on the individual school and the nature of your own child.

Making a Decision

It is important to consider both the advantages and disadvantages of boarding schools before you ultimately make a decision about where your child will be educated. Whatever his or her age, it is also important that your child is involved in the decision-making process too, since it is he or she who will be living with the everyday reality of this kind of education.