Boarding school can strengthen a child’s character and improve the relationship between parents and children.

Largely due to leftist nanny-statist media propaganda, people nowadays think it “cruel” and “selfish” and “heartless” to send children away to boarding school.  But, for most children, I suspect boarding schools do much more good than harm.  Away from home a child has far fewer distractions and, together with stronger discipline, this enables children to concentrate better, study harder, and generally develop as a better all round individual.  Contrary to the notion that it is “heartless” to “deprive children of parental love” for “months on end”, it can strengthen family relationships as “absence makes the heart grow fonder”.

FLEXI-BOARDING is a WIN-WIN 

Obviously, full-time boarding schools in OA-Cities would not make sense given the proximity to the students family homes. Rather than full-season boarding, OA-City schools might offer a “flexi-boarding” option.  Students could over-night at school during the week and spend weekends and holidays at home with their parents.  Most parents would welcome the opportunity of having mid-week breaks from their boisterous offspring. It might even encourage them to have more than just the one..!

Parents would have great difficulty enforcing school rules

As boarders, students will have to follow strict rules and routines that parents these days would have enormous difficulty applying without creating a lot of friction and resentment at home.   No late night TV, no internet, no mobile phones, no computer games, etc.  They will also learn respectfulness, punctuality, tidiness, and domestic skills like washing clothes, ironing, cooking and cleaning up after meals, etc 

One might argue that boarding school fees – even a weekdays-only one – would be unaffordable for most people.  Maybe so, under normal circumstances, but if the students were do their own cooking and cleaning, etc., only a few supervisors and janitors would be needed, most of which could be CAP staff. 

When I was a child, after school was just a vast swathe of time between getting home and bed, involving children’s programmes, prank phone calls, and boredom.  The thought of being able to just do your stuff, work or otherwise, instead of dragging reluctant offspring around the locality, does, I confess, make boarding school look strangely tempting.

“People often raise their eyebrows when I mention that I went to a boarding school.   Many believe it is a symptom of poor, or neglectful parenting; but in my case it was an act of selfless love.   I was a deeply shy, self-conscious little boy; embarrassed by my own reflection. Terrified around other people I can still remember hiding behind my father’s legs when we had visitors. Hopelessly unsporty, and worryingly unacademic, things didn’t look good for me – until I went to boarding school.”   

“Some of you may still have a notion that boarding schools are for tough, battle-hardened kids. I’m living proof that this is not the case. So is my wife Marina, who also cried for a year when she started boarding but, like me, isn’t bitter, but grateful for the experience.  The traditional image of cold showers and iron beds couldn’t be further from the reality at most progressive boarding schools.”  Ben Fogle