Do these schools really make a difference?
So, say you have a 15 year old. You send them to, say, Andover from his well-regarded public high school.
Would you see a notable difference after 1 year? Or would it just be minimal?
From my limited experience with people from such backgrounds, they are extremely polite and respectful. Good at talking, too. But I wonder if that is due to the school, or background?
Does anyone have first-hand experience with boarding prep schools?
Pretty much everyone here
Make a difference with what?
In behavior and intelligence? Do you become smarter? Lets say you go to Grotton and you become a surgeon. Otherwise, you’d be a PA/nurse or something. Do you guys think it works that way?
You’re conflating education with intelligence
No.
So what’s the point? If it won’t make a difference why do folks spend money and make the sacrifice of not seeing their kids?
Because our public school couldn’t academically challenge my kid or provide the richness of opportunities that his boarding school did. It also allowed him to do high-level academics, sports and other interests that were almost impossible to coordinate otherwise. At home, something would have to give.
I think if you bother to read through this thread you can answer your own question.
Oh wow. Did you notice a change in his behavior/demeanor? Also, wouldn’t the things you mentioned directly translate into better income/job prospects?
I may be in the minority here, but one of the main reasons my spouse and I allowed our kid to attend boarding school was to meet and hopefully form friendships with people from all over the world. He definitely could not have done that from here. Given a family history of having to flee from privation, prejudice and persecution, we wanted him to have connections in various countries, just in case things get awful here in the U.S.
Why would I want his behavior or demeanor to change? He was a great kid before he went and a great kid when he graduated. As for better income/job prospects, who knows? I know he found a passion for a certain field in boarding school and came out with a lot of skills in that area, but it’s not a high income field.
Oh some interesting perspectives here. If I had a kid, I would send him/her to boarding school with the expectation of going to high finance/law/medicine/elite business. But I guess its interesting to see that a lot of people don’t care about that.
Depends on the kid. BS don’t make your kids smart. They may give a smart kids tools to succeed more though. Keep in mind that this isn’t a guarantee. For me, public school gave me the tools to succeed more than boarding school did. I think it 100% is dependent on the kid.
This also goes for behavior, emotions, etc.
I grew up relatively poor. I was blessed to have had the opportunity to attend Exeter. It opened my eyes to a wealth of opportunities, areas of academic interest and exposed me to a world I otherwise wouldn’t have known existed.
Did it make me smarter…. I have no idea but I suspect not. It did however change my life!
Not sure what you are trying to determine but being at prep didn’t teach me to be polite or make eye contact when talking to adults, it did however change my ambitions and expectations of myself and provide a sense of limitless opportunity if I applied myself.
Worth every penny (although I was on scholarship)
Pick up the book “Privileged Poor”. One of the things that the author noted on his research is that very smart, but poor, kids who ended up at Harvard tended to do better if they had gone to an excellent prep school. Not because it made them “smarter”, because all the kids were smart, but because they knew how to approach professors, how to do a consultation, and how to navigate the social scene. Iow, it gave them the tools to succeed in that environment.
I don’t feel like that’s what you meant, but I suspect that for many kids, it’s this preparation that sets them up for success post high school. They are confidently able to manage learning challenges and navigate a diverse community.
But plenty of kids who don’t go to BS also knock it out of the park in college.
Ew. Just… ew.
I wouldn’t want my kid in a school catering to such goals.
And yes, my kid is in BS. Families choose BS for a variety of reasons. In my kid’s case, we were very dissatisfied with the LPS and there were no independent schools within a reasonable commute.
But the brain is pretty plastic at the early ages. Maybe being exposed to more things, more difficulty, etc. benefits the brain? Their is quite a bit of research showing the plasticity of the brain, but also research showing that education doesn’t have too much impact on IQ, so its interesting to think about.
Not clear what the point of this post is. You asked a yes/no question in the title. It was answered.
If you have other questions, please ask them. If you’re here to poke the bear, don’t bother. Parents whose kids are in BS usually have a pretty great understanding of the whys, the benefits, etc. Suffice to say we are mostly collectively comfortable with the decision.
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