boarding school

steddyeddy

I'm not sure how good it is for a child's happiness but it may provide some independence. I believe grammar schools are far more productive.

vicwatson

vicwatson wrote: »

"But it's for the child's education". Bollox

My parents careers took them abroad for various periods, and myself and my siblings all boarded for secondary. It provided us with a lot of security and structure that we otherwise wouldn't have had.

I went to secondary school in Kent in England, we were well fed as our menus were devised by dietitians, well looked after by our house mistresses and masters, my own school had almost 400 acres of grounds with every conceivable sports facility including hard and soft tennis courts, our teachers were fantastic, from maths and science to art and music. Older students were encouraged to get involved with charitable endeavors. AS and A level results were generally in the very upper end of the spectrum. I have many fond memories of my time at boarding school, though of course it also had disadvantages, like everything else.

My parents didn't send us off to school to get rid of us, and are the best people anyone could want for parents, and the best role models anyone would ever need. The assumptions that people board because of dysfunctional families, or because of disinterested or bad parents, or because they themselves are disruptive, or because they would otherwise fail academically, are in my experience completely wrong.

Maybe Irish boarding schools are very different; I get the impression most of them are run by religious orders - mine wasn't and that might make a huge difference. I've never met anyone who boarded in Ireland, but it doesn't mean all boarding schools are the same and everyone is there for some miserable reason, and it's insulting to families like mine - close, involved families, to suggest so.

El_Duderino 09

steddyeddy wrote:

I'm not sure how good it is for a child's happiness but it may provide some independence. I believe grammar schools are far more productive.

Some people are very happy and some aren't.
Definitely does provide opportunities for independence but you can't really control your own cooking or cleaning. Great for social skills and making lasting friendships. If you act the maggot, you'll be found out because there's nowhere to hide. Most people learn to treat others fairly and expect fair treatment in return. Very good for confidence.
There is constant distraction and routine so you get used to having structure to your life but you rarely have to do the structuring yourself. It's a very different set of teenage experiences.

It suits some. Doesn't suit others

steddyeddy

My grandmother was educated by French nuns in a boarding school and liked it. It depends on the person. I'm old fashioned but manners and independence are lacking in some of today's lot.

foggy_lad

The old Boarding school Mantra "Up the Bum, don't tell Mum*, No harm done".


*Boarding school Mum or dormitory matron etc. Most schools had a motherly figure who was a surrogate mum to boys and girls when they got homesick or when they needed some good old-fashioned mothering.

freedominacup

foggy_lad wrote: »

The old Boarding school Mantra "Up the Bum, don't tell Mum, No harm done".

My Mrs has a version of the Christmas Carol deck the halls. They used to sing it about the matron (generally a young woman from the local town) who used to supervise their dorm at night.

foggy_lad

freedominacup wrote: »

My Mrs has a version of the Christmas Carol deck the halls. They used to sing it about the matron (generally a young woman from the local town) who used to supervise their dorm at night.

Haven't heard that one, how does it go?

pajor

I went to a day and boarding school. Did my time for two and a half years. The running joke towards people who began boarding was "So why are you boarding? Our parents didn't love us either."

Wouldn't know about Tipperary exactly, but there are a lot of boarding schools in the south east and Cork. Our inter-school sports games were always against them.

MeatTwoVeg

steddyeddy wrote:

My grandmother was educated by French nuns in a boarding school and liked it.

Porn scene scenario ahoy.

Cliff Walker

Deleted User wrote: »

A friend of mine was taken out of our local national school in high infants and sent to a boarding school. He was about five years old. He had unquestionably the most miserable childhood I have ever witnessed. About once a month he would come home and we'd meet and I never witnessed so much anger and hatred in a fellow child. He really stood out among us. This went on for the entirety of his time in that school, and his parents paid a fortune for his "privilege", so that they could get back to their horses and business. It really was as simple as that.

As there are, thankfully, only a handful of such private, fee-charging boarding primary schools in Ireland it's not difficult to find out the school I'm talking about. Whatever about for secondary school, sending your child to boarding school for primary is unadulterated misopedia. Parents have prioritised clearly, and spending time with their children is not a priority. Hopefully, they are plagued with regret later on when they've sorted out their career and have no financial worries.

Like both of my parents, I come from a huge family. As my father was given the option by his parents, I was offered the option of going to boarding school if I wanted to go on to be a priest. He was the only one of 8 surviving sons (all the girls for some reason went to secondary) who completed secondary school because he was going on to be the priest of the family, and he boarded. My mother was going on to be a nun and she, too, accordingly got free secondary education at boarding school (including, creid é nó ná creid, in an enclosed order of nuns on the continent for a couple of years - I've never seen this annual exodus of Irish children into continental religious orders highlighted by historians.) When they decided against religious life they both got very decent jobs by virtue of being among the minority of the population that had completed secondary school.

Ireland doesn't have boarding schools for 5 year olds. 4th class seems to be the youngest these days.

Cliff Walker

Cliff Walker wrote: »

Ireland doesn't have boarding schools for 5 year olds. 4th class seems to be the youngest these days.

In the 1980s, this child was definitely taken out of high infants and sent to a private preparatory school. I visited him there (in that culturally very alien environment) several times. This boarding school for primary students still exists today.

Aglomerado

osarusan wrote: »

All I know is everybody plays lacrosse there and the French teacher will unwittingly make hilarious puns in English.

And have midnight feasts. Always the midnight feasts! They should have renamed the school Calorie Towers....

NUTLEY BOY

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Boarding school was always used as a threat when my teenage years were getting out of hand

Yes, the Guantanamo bay threat of it's era.

Unfortunately one mate of mine had his bluff called and was sent there - Tipperary that is.

allibastor

I have cousins who went to Clongoes ? and loved it, became VERY good at rugby and ended up with very good careers off the back of this. They have some friends who are the best group of friends I have ever met.

I know some who went to boarding also and hated it, I mean really hated it.
Just depends on the child I suppose and the reasons for going. My cousins were mad about rugby and wanted to play it every day, which was good as it worked out for them

pauliebdub

I went to one in the 90s. I enjoyed it for the most part, though there was a fair bit of bullying there was also a massive amount of craic. It made me fiercely independent and self reliant - the results being a rather detached relationship with my parents.

It also attracted quite a few kids with behavioral issues such as ADHD who were a nightmare to have around, I suspected their parents couldn't cope and sent them away to boarding school.

pauliebdub

pauliebdub wrote: »

It also attracted quite a few kids with behavioral issues such as ADHD who were a nightmare to have around, I suspected their parents couldn't cope and sent them away to boarding school.

Moreso than a purely state-funded school?

A lot of kids have A.D.H.D. and their parents don't know it, especially if the school has no counselling service.

To take a well-known example, Bipolar is more common in high-income households than low-income households in the U.S.A.

But how much of that is a statistical manifestation of poorer access to therapy among low-income households, and therefore widespread under-diagnosis?

I went to a British Independent school with no kids with special needs, whether that was a policy or product of selection I don't know, but it's not my experience of boarding school that it was overrun with ADHD kids.

El_Duderino 09

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote:

But how much of that is a statistical manifestation of poorer access to therapy among low-income households, and therefore widespread under-diagnosis?

It doesn't matter as much as how well boarding school suits people with ADHD. Boarding school provides the whole day in structured tasks often broken down into small manageable tasks. That would really suit someone with mild ADHD.

They will struggle in long study periods but generally they could get on better in boarding school than normal life where they would have much longer periods which are completely unstructured.

Do you now what you call a poor person (or if it isn't diagnosed) with ADHD? A criminal. It's sad but as you imply, it's much more likely to he diagnosed and managed in wealthier people.

MRnotlob606

Boarding schools are a hive of deviant behaviour.

evolving_doors

allibastor wrote: »

I have cousins who went to Clongoes ? and loved it, became VERY good at rugby and ended up with very good careers off the back of this. They have some friends who are the best group of friends I have ever met.

I know some who went to boarding also and hated it, I mean really hated it.
Just depends on the child I suppose and the reasons for going. My cousins were mad about rugby and wanted to play it every day, which was good as it worked out for them

That's about it really.

andekwarhola

I'm glad I was too poor to go.

I prefer to labour under the illusion that they're full of sexy lacrosse players that have midnight feasts and solve mysteries that invariably involve the shifty German teacher being a spy.

Wigglepuppy

Girls' boarding-schools were always depicted as fantastic fun (Blyton, Brent-Dyer), whereas boys' boarding-schools - torture centres (Dahl, Kipling; the guy who wrote Tom Brown's Schooldays).

Although the school in Dead Poets' Society isn't the worst.

It was full of pillow fights, midnight feasts, mystery solving and jolly hockey sticks.

Kinda.

Wigglepuppy

My father went to boarding-school in Tipperary actually. "Twas the first place I ever saw a black fella". Every so often the son of an African diplomat or whoever would rock on up there.

Sounded like a heady mixture of culchie, posh and exotic.

Aineoil

It's funny the way people look at boarding school. My husband went to boarding school, he's from the west of Ireland and there were very few options to complete a Leaving Cert where he lived.

So his parents decided a boarding school would be a good idea. He didn't like or hate it that much. Just hated mass every morning`.

evolving_doors

Wigglepuppy wrote: »

Girls' boarding-schools were always depicted as fantastic fun (Blyton, Brent-Dyer), whereas boys' boarding-schools - torture centres (Dahl, Kipling; the guy who wrote Tom Brown's Schooldays).

Although the school in Dead Poets' Society isn't the worst.

YA that worked out pretty well in the end alright!

BionicRasher

Going to a mixed boarding school was also very exciting!

Cliff Walker

Does anyone know anything about that boarding school in Waterford that you 6th class to learn Irish?

byhookorbycrook

Ring? Personally, I'd avoid it.

ProudDUB

pauliebdub wrote: »

I went to one in the 90s. I enjoyed it for the most part, though there was a fair bit of bullying there was also a massive amount of craic. It made me fiercely independent and self reliant - the results being a rather detached relationship with my parents.

It also attracted quite a few kids with behavioral issues such as ADHD who were a nightmare to have around, I suspected their parents couldn't cope and sent them away to boarding school.

My brother is the exact same. He haD a very detached relationship with his parents and 4 sisters. Even his kids find it hard to get him to open up, or admit to much emotion. He is incredibly emotionally self sufficient. His wife blames his boarding school experience for hardening him up. Luckily for their marriage, he opens up to her and they have a very strong relationship, but the rest of us are left out in the cold.