billwill
Tuesday 6th March 2012 1:42am [Edited]
North London
6,162 posts
Quote: keewik @ March 5 2012, 11:39 PM GMT
Institutionalisation is the problem. I once blackened my copybook with someone when I compared boarding school to children's home in that the residents become so institutionalised they end up in the army - another institution. Then discovered her brother had been in boarding school and progressed to the army.
The boarding school that I went to when I was 12 was a fantastic place, and developed the personalities of us kids amazingly well, making many of us highly self-reliant and successful people.
Many of us ex-pupils are still in touch, see our website: http://www.kingalfredschool.com
but it was a very unusual school well ahead of its time; it was for both boys and girls and all grades. It was a school in Germany for children of British Forces, so it's not surprising that many of the boys and some of the girls went on to join the army. Some reached very high rank in the Army or Air Force.
I regret that I was not able to attend that boarding school for more than a year, due to the dates on which my serving father was moved from post to post, country to country. My elder brothers did spend more time there.
Though only 4000 pupils passed through the school in its brief lifetime of only 11 years, our ex-pupils include about 8 MBEs, a Major-General, an Air Commodore, a former chaplain of the Tower of London, one fairly well known actress. Oh and one of our ex-teachers, though he is now aged about 93 has been seen on TV performing in a Ballet production.
So not all boarding schools are bad for kids.
PS: Oh and a multi-millionaire, I almost forgot him. 
