<p>Unfortunate click-bait headline, but what are your thoughts on the article? </p>
<p>It’s a political piece, isn’t it? I don’t know enough about British politics to gauge the allegations. </p>
<p>I do know the Brits send children away at very young ages, like 7. That’s very different from 13 or 14. He seemed to present it as a male experience, but I believe the Brits have boarding schools for girls as well. Perhaps his clientele is mostly male. I also think he’s mistaken if he thinks there isn’t any bullying at day schools. I think the whole “constructing a public persona” is what adolescents do in the US, usually in high school. It’s possible electronic devices and social media have depressed the age to middle school, though. For any student these days, peers are watching 24/7.</p>
<p>It also sounds like the referenced schools don’t do a good job “in loco parentis,” but 7? Ouch.</p>
<p>Boarding schools produce good leaders. George Bush went to Andover.</p>
<p>@rhapsody17 you’ve set yourself up for a slew of jokes.</p>
<p>I’ll be first! <a href=“http://www.classperformance.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bush-reads-front-of-the-class-upside-down.jpg”>http://www.classperformance.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bush-reads-front-of-the-class-upside-down.jpg</a> :p</p>
<p>I think OP was hoping to have an intelligent conversation… You know- about the article. </p>
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<p>Now that’s funny.</p>
<p>Am I wrong? Did Donald Trump go to boarding school? His EQ is quite low I’m sure.</p>
<p>Now, really… Is The Donald actually a leader?? ;)</p>
<p>ChoatieMom, one side of my family is British… And the cousins all went off to boarding schools at age eight.</p>
<p>The TITLE of the article says BULLIES(my reading skills are at a “10” tonight LOLOL 
</p>
<p>He would qualify as a bully.</p>
<p>New Haven : right you are. :)</p>
<p>While I grudgingly acknowledge that both Presidents Bush went to Andover (and Yale), times and admissions were a lot different in those days.</p>
<p>I also need to point out that JFK went to Choate, other Kennedy siblings and offspring attended various BS’s, John Kerry went to SPS, John McCain went to Episcopal, ad nauseum.</p>
<p>Boarding schools produce good (and bad) leaders. So do public schools and private day schools.</p>
<p>I mean, when you have schools churning out these leaders, some are bound to be bad…</p>
<p>@skieurope, your comment was exactly where I thought the discussion would go…although I wasn’t expecting it to get all <em>that</em> intelligent, given the transparent agenda of the article’s author. I do think sending your kid to BS at 7 vs. 13 or 14 is a significant variable, though. </p>
<p>As for the Bush thing, a friend and Andover student recently said to us, “yeah, we have this unspoken understanding not to mention it.” LOL. </p>
<p>The Andover student’s comment about Bush made me feel sad. I thought 43’s AIDS work in Africa and his dedication to Wounded Warriors would’ve been a great source of pride for that community. Since leaving office, his (quiet) leadership, grace and devotion has been extraordinary. Failing to acknowledge it looks small - and completely uninformed. </p>
<p>So- please forgive me if I’m over the whole Bush Derangement Syndrome thing. I certainly wasn’t a fan while he was in office but I am a big fan now. I admire his service to others. </p>
<p>One may argue that a more valid conclusion is not that boarding schools produce poor leaders, but that public schools produce proportionately few leaders.</p>
<p>And then one may point out the socioeconomic scene with most boarding school student compared to household incomes for public school students. </p>
<p>I found the article interesting, but I don’t see anything in it that applies to teenagers attending boarding schools of their own volition. Sending 7-year-olds away is appalling and I assume that most people are damaged by the experience.</p>