Boarding can be an extremely traumatising experience for children. It forces them to separate from parents and loved ones, a huge loss that is downplayed by teachers and peers and exacerbated by the boarding school culture.
Despite these negative aspects, research shows that boarding does enhance students’ WISC IQ scores, especially in fluid intelligence, and their digit span score. It also increases students’ self-confidence and social skills.
Personal Development
Boarding schools are the perfect place for students to develop self-discipline and independence. By living away from home, they learn to balance their school work, personal responsibilities and social activities. This skill is essential for college and the workforce, as it teaches them how to manage their time effectively and make responsible decisions on their own.
A supportive boarding school community also helps to build strong interpersonal skills. Students interact with their peers before, during and after class and develop meaningful connections with each other. These interactions encourage collaboration and teamwork, and provide a foundation for future success in professional environments. Boarding schools often attract students from different parts of the world, and the exposure to new languages, cultures and perspectives nurtures open-mindedness and lifelong friendships.
Moreover, the centralized nature of a boarding school allows faculty to offer a diverse range of extracurricular activities. From performing arts to sports, there are plenty of opportunities to explore individual interests and develop a well-rounded educational experience.
Students are able to gain a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses through these experiences, allowing them to improve upon their weaknesses and excel in their strengths. Additionally, students are able to explore their passions and discover skills that they can apply to a variety of professional contexts.
Lastly, the individualized attention offered at a boarding school can have significant impacts on a student’s academic performance. With smaller classroom sizes, students are able to get the personalized support that they need to thrive in the classroom. This supports a greater level of confidence and information retention, and enables students to leave a boarding school fully prepared for university and the workforce.
Socialization
Boarding schools are famous for teaching students the hard work and discipline needed to succeed, but they also have a reputation for socialization. Boarding school students learn to live with roommates and build close friendships with faculty from dorm parents to coaches and teachers. They will learn how to navigate college and life as an adult, how to live with people who don’t have the same priorities as them, how to be a contributor, how to strike a balance between work and play and how to persevere when things get difficult.
In fact, when asked by researchers what they thought were the most important benefits of boarding school, students, teachers and alums named socialization as the top answer. They also cited the small, tight knit community, the opportunity to develop deep friendships with students from around the world, and the chance to be in challenging classes taught by teachers who cared as other top benefits.
Prior multivariate research into boarding school effects have looked at domain-general motivation and engagement but not more specific, state-like measures of emotional well-being such as loneliness tendency. Future research should incorporate more rigorous, real-time measurement of these key variables and use person-centered models to control for personality traits and other contextual factors that might explain why a student’s boarding status has an impact on their mental health.
Another potential factor is that boarding schools often attract students from a wide range of cultural backgrounds and this may mean that their communities are richer in diversity and tolerance than those of the student’s home community. This may also contribute to improved cross-cultural communication skills and enhanced cultural intelligence, both of which are essential in a globalized workforce.
Self-Discipline
Boarding schools encourage self-discipline by providing a consistent, immersive environment away from distractions and harmful influences that can negatively impact teenagers’ development. In a boarding school, structure is second nature, from wake up times and timetables to adhering to a schedule that balances academics with extracurriculars and leisure. As a result, students develop self-discipline as they learn to prioritize their education and manage their time wisely.
Additionally, boarding schools have an inherent focus on mentoring and guidance. Students are provided with dedicated mentors or advisers who help guide them in both their academics and personal lives. These are typically teachers, coaches, or influential people from outside the school who the student looks up to as an example of what is possible. As a result, these mentors help cultivate discipline by instilling high standards and setting clear expectations.
With class sizes roughly half to 1/3 that of traditional public and private school classrooms, boarding school students get the chance to interact with teachers and their classmates more often. This is a great opportunity for learning as it allows teachers to identify individual learning styles and create a more personalized experience that leads to greater success for their students.
Additionally, boarding schools have an immersive culture that draws bright, driven students from a wide range of backgrounds. This is a great way to expose teenagers to different perspectives and cultural beliefs, and it can help broaden their worldview in preparation for an increasingly interconnected global society.
Self-Awareness
A defining aspect of boarding school is that students live and learn alongside peers from diverse backgrounds. Although this dynamic has the potential to create disagreement, it paves the way for broadened world views and social maturity. In fact, a recent study by TABS found that 31% of boarders said that this was one of the things they liked most about their boarding experience.
Living independently from their parents teaches children essential life skills like time management and self-reliance. They must manage their daily tasks, work around a schedule, and take responsibility for a number of academic, extracurricular, and personal commitments. This is a critical step toward independence and self-reliance that will carry them through college and beyond.
Because class sizes tend to be smaller in a boarding school, students have the opportunity to develop a closer mentor relationship with their teachers. Additionally, teachers have the chance to see how each student responds to material and can tailor their teaching techniques accordingly. Humanities classes often use the Socratic method, which works to open up dialogue between teacher and student. This allows students to express their own ideas about subject matter and makes them more confident to share their answers in front of their peers.
Boarding schools also provide a structured environment that helps students thrive. With consistent daily routines, dedicated study time, and access to academic resources, students have the tools they need to succeed. The structure of the boarding school also encourages collaboration between students and provides them with the freedom to explore their interests and passions outside of classroom hours. This kind of socialization can lead to increased confidence, cultural awareness, and lifelong friendships.
Confidence
Boarding schools allow educators to get to know students on a more personal level. They are able to identify each student’s academic strengths and weaknesses, which allows them to provide personalized learning opportunities. This one-on-one approach to education helps build students’ confidence in both academic and social settings. In addition, the supportive social and learning environments in boarding schools foster social interactions before, during and after the traditional school day. This enables students to grow together, instilling lifelong self-confidence and mutual respect.
Unlike many other institutions, boarding schools are known for their high standards and rigorous educational programs. They also offer a wide variety of extracurricular activities that help develop the whole child. For example, boarding school students often learn the importance of time management and how to balance multiple activities at once. They also learn how to make important decisions on their own, which teaches them the value of independence, making something like a Private Boarding School Education in India quite appealing.
In addition, boarding schools tend to attract a diverse student body, allowing students to interact with different cultures and beliefs. This type of diversity can teach students to accept and respect differences, which is an essential component for a successful life.
However, not all boarding school experiences are positive. As psychotherapist Hymie Schaverien writes, “Boarding school can be a terrifying experience for children, and it is common for parents to use it as a way of separating a ‘good’ child from the ‘bad’ child.” This can lead to a split in the psyche between the normal, vulnerable home self and the boarding school self, and can have long-term implications.
In my correspondence with ex-boarders, I’ve found that even those who appear to have a healthy, happy relationship with themselves may have a lack of trust in close relationships as a lasting repercussion of this trauma. It can be difficult to break out of this pattern, but the positive emotional and social skills learned at boarding school can help.