Board Schools

Board Schools


     For most people boarding schools conjure up thoughts of young men in navy

blue blazers with white shirts and a tie going to a beautiful school with ivy

covered walls and the game of polo being played in the distance.  Oh, and don't

forget thoughts of parents with fat wallets and a family trust fund.  This is

what Gordon Vink, the director of admissions at Mercersburg Academy in

Pennsylvania, calls the “Holden Caufield-Catcher in the Rye syndrome”(Parker

111), a book about the troubles a boy faces at his prep boarding school.

     To an extent the image holds true.  Prep schools offer collegiate type

atmospheres, have strict rules, and often teach generations of students from the

same families.  The simplest definition of a boarding school is a place that

parents pay for a stodent to live and go to school.  The school's teachers,

coaches, and administrators live in dormitories with boarders and act as their

family enforcing the strict rules, making disciplinary decisions, and overseeing

behavior and academic performance.

     Boarding schools can be one or all of the following:  academic boot camp,

a place for parents to put kids they don't want around or don't have the time

for, a haven from deteriorating public schools, a necessary credential for

children of the rich and famous, or a training ground for tomorrow's leaders.

These schools range from small unknown institutions which will accept anyone, to

the elite schools, which are very selective and are a pipeline to Ivy-league

schools and success.

     Boarding schools are superior to public day schools.  Proponents of

boarding prep schools claim the schools offer unparalled discipline, a stronger

curriculum, exellent facilities, a way to get in to better colleges, a superior

learning environment, staggering extra-curricular options, and allow students to

attain a higher level of performance.  Opponents argue that the astronomical

cost, anywhere from $8000 to $25,000 per year for the most elite, is too

expensive.  They also claim the rules are too extreme and suffocating, and that

students experience an abundance of stress.

     The biggest argument against boarding schools is cost.  With an average

cost of $8000 to $25,000 (Topolnicki 100), many parents ask:  Are private

boarding schools worth the expense?  The extra attention and frills don't come

cheap.  “It's like buying stock or a new house,” says private school consultant

Georgia Irvin.  “It's a major investment.” (Parker 111)  But many boarding

schools have been working hard to increase their financial aid and to structure

new methods of payment.  Pricey prep schools are more likely to give

scholarships. Sixteen percent of students who attend get financial aid, which

averages $5,400 a year. ( Topolnicki 101)  Boarders also must consider what they

are getting - tuition and all living expenses.  “Just think about how much food

a typical teenager eats,”  Susan Laittus says.  She pays $21,000 a year for her

child to go to boarding school.  She feels no price is too high when thinking of

her children's future.  That $21,000 also gives her child access to a private

beach, surfing classes, and a recreation room with an ocean view.  One

alternative to get a similar education is to move to an advantaged public school

system, but then there are high property taxes  to pay  and the average home

costs between $125,000 to $500,000 in such affluent neighborhoods. (Topplnicki

100)  If the costs can be overcome, then a private boarding school is worth

every penny.

     Another problem is the system of rules the schools use.  Boarding

schools generally plan every hour in the student's day.  From wake up to lights

out, every hour in the student's life is set.  At Exeter Boarding School in New

Hampshire, classes start before 8:00 AM and often don't wind up until 6:00 PM.

(Morgan 103)  Jenny Cantrell's first discovery at Mercersburg Academy in

Pennsylvania was the school rule book.  Jenny had to be at dinner from 6:20 PM

until 6:50 PM, then have study time from 7:30 PM to 10:00 PM.  Aft
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