<p>See, this is the reason people think of boarding schools as a place for problem children. At every school there are going to be people with issues. People just talk about the kids with problems more than they talk about the academically strong kids because the ones with issues are more fun to gossip about.</p>
<p>If you guys think there is a problem with boarding school stereotypes, stop feeding the fire. Talking about kids with problems at boarding schools is only making the issue bigger. These are the types of things that give boarding schools a bad name.</p>
<p>I just told my friend yesterday I'm applying to boarding school. He's like, "Why would you want to go there? Don't you think that everyone there got sent there and they didn't actually want to go?"</p>
<p>But that's probably what everyone thinks around here, which is one of the reasons why I want to leave so badly.</p>
<p>Most people that go to boarding schools are like you JK. There are probably only a few kids at each school who go because of problems. (maybe even less because fi they have problems, they probably won't get in) People just have this image of "problem kids at boarding schools" because people dwell on the two or three that there are and somehow miss that there are a lot of great people at boarding schools.</p>
<p>from my experience, most kids I know made the decision themselves to attend boarding school. the percentage that were just sent there is a small minority.</p>
<p>im guessing that the kind of boarding schools "problem children" are sent to are not prep schools but more along the lines of reform schools. usually kids who dont work and have major psychological issues do not end up places like the ones listed on this site.</p>
<p>There are a lot of different kinds of boarding schools. There ARE schools for kids who need emotional growth work or other therapeutic help. The schools we are discussing are academically focused college prep schools. One headmaster told me that today's student body is quite different than those of past generations. Today, the kids initiate the decision to attend prep school (in many cases) and really want to go. In years past, it was more of a parental decision.</p>
<p>lol my friend just told me that he's applying to a boarding school in Minnesota. When he told me that I said, "I thought you said it was stupid to go to boarding school." Then he's like, "You convinced me to." lol. He's applying to a school called Cotter in Winona, Minnesota. The admission rate is 98%, so he'll probably get in. lol.</p>
<p>I think he's only applying there. He lives in Minnesota and he wants to be close to home, so whatever.</p>
<p>I haven't decided yet. I don't think I'm going to though. I know I'm applying to SPS, Andover, Exeter, Deerfield, and Cate. I'm probably going to apply to Stevenson and Thacher, though too. So we'll see...</p>
<p>Are you going to visit these schools or are you just going to apply? I think it's very important to visit. This way you are 100% confident that the school is a good fit for you before you drop that much money.</p>
<p>I know, I know, it's just that I don't want my parents to spend thousands of dollars on airfare to visit these schools even if I don't get in. I'm going to apply to these schools and set up a phone interview. When I find out which schools I got into, I'll visit them on revist day.</p>
<p>people have these negative stereotypes because they were once true. boarding schools WERE originally for the children of very affluent, old-money people (some truly preppy families still do that as a tradition). if anyone read Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld, a good deal of Lee's classmates seemed to consider boarding school as a family tradition. Curtis Sittenfeld actually went to boarding school, so I'm guessing that it was true, at least during the time Ms. Sittenfeld went there, and she's only in her late twenties-early thirties. </p>
<p>And yes, a long time ago people did send their misbehaving kids away to disciplinary boarding schools. Also in Prep, the narrator Lee mentions the only boarding schools her parents ever heard of was the one that a friend sent his screwup child away to. </p>
<p>Of course, it's much different today, though the stereotypes are true once in awhile. While i was online searching for boarding schools, there were a lot of websites advertising these boarding schools with children with "difficulties" and ADHD, aggressive behavior, etc. </p>
<p>Also another reason people believe in these stereotypes are due to modern books like the It Girl. I only read the first few pages, but the protagonist, Jenny, leaves her old school to get a fresh start in a boarding school infiltrated by wealthy New Yorkers. In one of the Clique books, the girls meet a boy that was kicked out of Hotchkiss and he's rich, of course. The boy was in middle schools, and I felt like shouting at the book; "wait! Hotchkiss is a HIGH SCHOOL, not a middle school!"</p>
<p>Not many midwesterners go to boarding school, so people thought it was a little strange when I decided I wanted to go. (Now the 3rd of my 4 siblings is getting ready to apply to boarding school--how things have changed!) Years later, though, many of my friends from back home tell me that they wish they could have gone too.</p>
<p>No one should let the negative stereotypes scare them--most of them arise from a combination of ignorance and jealousy. And for the parents on here, don't get rattled by others' judgemental attitude towards your parenting choice. By encouraging your children to stretch and challenge themselves you've done more than just parent them, you've helped them grow up. I think that's a hard choice to make, and I'm grateful my own parents made it when they let me go away to school.</p>
<p>not necessarily jealousy - just ignorance; for some time i also thought that boarding school solely for the wealthy. after all, today's entertainment (books, movies, etc) still portray boarding schools that way. my friends werent jealous at all. some said, "oh that's cool" and others were utterly surprised. one was eh-eh at the idea of going away from home. boarding school's not for everyone, after all.</p>
<p>I told my another friend that I was applying to boarding school and he replied, "Oh, you're going to juvie? What's wrong with your parents?" That made me sooo mad. :(</p>