BG Parenting: Boarding school

[solanis]

Over dinner last night, the topic of boarding school came up. One of my friends at the table went with prep for prep (program that sends poor kids of color to the top boarding schools). Everyone there other than the two of us was horrified at the prospect of boarding school for various reasons.

What do you think of boarding school? Would you ever let your children go to one? Co-ed/single sex?

[Lestat]

Co-ed and it all depends on the child's ability to cope away from home. Can definitely teach the child about self sufficiency and how to handle money if given an allowance for extra stuff. Although if bullied, the child will have no where to run to.

(Assuming the child will be living at the school)

[Gryffes]

I think from the POV of a child it might feel terrible/awesome depending on how your parents broach it with you.
I think overall it would be a positive thing ( from like 14+, and depending on the school obv ).

[JigglyJam]

If I ever have kids, I don't I think I could send them off. When it comes to family I get pretty sentimental.

[Zetanio]

It really depends on when you start. Start at a transition point. Primary -> Secondary -> High School. Best bet IMO is to start early.

There are a LOT of stories about prep schools (Higher drug use, sex, etc) but I find most if not all of that is on par with regular high schools.

For me personally? Unless I lived in an area with really shitty schools I would send my kids to public. It's usually a more dynamic range of kids with a much more diverse experience.

Unless I have 60k+ a year to send my kids to one of the top end East Coast scion schools. Which I may.

[Cairthenn]

Hell if I'd raise a child (what a mess that would be), but if they wanted to, I certainly wouldn't be opposed. Though that'd be my stance on pretty much anything other than homicide or related acts. I think people don't mesh with the idea because it pretty much claws at the traditional family model.

[Ksandra]

Personally, I probably wouldn't, but I'm not against it, nor do I look down on people who do it. Shit is situational and can end up being better or worse which could be said about any schooling choice. My husband spent his middle school years in a private school. His parents planned to have him go to the public high school in the town (don't think they wanted to spend the money as their older son was in college at that point so were focusing on that), but the very spring before he was supposed to go there, a huge riot broke out at the school. So, they ended up getting permission to send him to the public school in the next town instead. I wouldn't have faulted them for sending him to another private school or boarding school instead if that's what they felt would have been safer.

Basically, shit is situational, and I don't think parents who choose any decision should be faulted as long as they did it because they thought it would be best for the child.

[tyven]

WAIT. your friend was raised through prep for prep or he is paying to have some colored off the street get a shot at a better life? if the latter, kudos to him. Looks like my man B.I.G. was wrong when he said "Either you're slingin' crack rock or you got a wicked jump shot". Apparently some hebrew can also send you to prep school.

RIP CHRIS WALLACE
http://keepinganearout.files.wordpre...orious-big.jpg

[solanis]

WAIT. your friend was raised through prep for prep or he is paying to have some colored off the street get a shot at a better life? if the latter, kudos to him. Looks like my man B.I.G. was wrong when he said "Either you're slingin' crack rock or you got a wicked jump shot". Apparently some hebrew can also send you to prep school.

RIP CHRIS WALLACE
http://keepinganearout.files.wordpre...orious-big.jpg

lol nah, they got their free ride through prep for prep. saved their life tbh, they were in a really bad situation back home. prep for prep does good work

[Pirian]

I wouldn't make that decision for them. I'm a bit of a control freak and I don't think I would like the idea of someone else raising my kid, but if they requested it then I would seriously consider it. Getting away from parents for an extended period is what summer camp is for, anyways, isn't it? As for single-sex/co-ed, probably would go for co-ed, but that would probably be an afterthought to the desired school.

[Kerberoz]

Depends if it was religious/secular and co-ed/single-sex. I wouldn't want to send my hypothetical kids to a god-fearing circle-jerk. Other than that, sure. It couldn't possibly be worse, socially or academically, than public school.

[Eurell]

I wouldn't, but only because I don't have a lot of trust in other people. Trusting them with basically raising my kid is out of the question. I'm not horrified by the idea of other people doing it though, just not for me.

[pohibaba]

My wife and I have discussed this recently and we decided that when we have kids (assuming we had the money to send them to a boarding school) we would wait until they were older, 7th or 8th grade at the earliest, and then present them with their options and let them decide. Some of those schools have an absurd matriculation rate to the best colleges in the world, and that's too good of an opportunity not to consider.

[Gryffes]

I've sent all my kids to boarding school so far, the letters I get indicate that they're doing great.

nh.

[Senji]

Sounds like prep, private, and magnet schools are getting sloshed together up in here.

[solanis]

I wouldn't, but only because I don't have a lot of trust in other people. Trusting them with basically raising my kid is out of the question. I'm not horrified by the idea of other people doing it though, just not for me.

do you think you could do a better job than a team of professionals?

[Eurell]

do you think you could do a better job than a team of professionals?

Raise my child to be an intelligent and decent person? I don't think it's possible to tell how good I'll be at that until he's grown. But at least I know what I'm thinking and the intentions behind everything I do with him. It's impossible to tell what kind of influence some teachers or students will have on my kid when he's that far away.

Boarding schools may have higher %s going to college or w/e, but that doesn't mean he won't make anything of himself if he goes to any other school. Idk, I just tend to think parental involvement is very important in a kid's life.

Edit: Again, not to say that boarding schools are a bad thing. I'm sure they are the best option for a lot of people. It's just not for me.

[greenhills]

i can't believe i missed this thread, as this is something my husband and i actually talked about fairly recently (after coming to terms with the fact that the only 2 non- affiliated school we liked in the city we are in are both about 45 mins drive from our home in rush hour. fuck that, and fuck moving for now, we actually really like where we are atm). then we started looking into it...

Unless I have 60k+ a year to send my kids to one of the top end East Coast scion schools.

triples or quadruples the cost of what we were looking at for the private schools. hello empty college fund before even finishing k-8 let alone making it to the 12th year.


in summery: yes, i would send my son to one if money wasn't a factor. but, money is always a factor, so most likely would never.

[Zetanio]

i can't believe i missed this thread, as this is something my husband and i actually talked about fairly recently (after coming to terms with the fact that the only 2 non- affiliated school we liked in the city we are in are both about 45 mins drive from our home in rush hour. fuck that, and fuck moving for now, we actually really like where we are atm). then we started looking into it...



triples or quadruples the cost of what we were looking at for the private schools. hello empty college fund before even finishing k-8 let alone making it to the 12th year.


in summery: yes, i would send my son to one if money wasn't a factor. but, money is always a factor, so most likely would never.

By scion schools I mean one of the best (Top 10).

There are great options at much more affordable prices.

[Lucavi]

You're rich, Solanis. Prep school for your kiddies sounds perfect for you, and you get to ignore them as well!