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This is my second year at boarding school, and I disagree completely.
Yes, boarding school is not for everyone. Not everyone thrives in that kind of environment. There are many girls in my school who suffer, either from academic or social-related problems.
And of course, if you're going to judge a school based on its brochure, then you probably shouldn't be going. Applicants should never idealize the schools - despite the pretty green lawns and pictures of smiling students, boarding school is still life - you get lonely, depressed, angry. Everyone I know at my school has been through a "I shouldn't have come here/What am I doing here/My life here sucks" phase.
But for those who try, to make friends, succeed in their endeavors, take advantage of their resources - I don't think kids at good schools, especially boarding schools, ever fully realize how incredibly lucky they are. I've noticed that students easily get fed up with the spoiledness of otheres, and the hypocrisy, or work overload, or a million other reasons. Yet there are millions of underprivileged kids in the world, for whom going to any kind of private school or receiving an education at all, is a mere dream to them.
I don't deny it - I am a teenager, so there's not a day passing when I don't get vaguely whiney, and think about what's wrong with my life - but I still try to think about how lucky I am during certain moments, like seeing a new, beautiful snowfall blanket the school campus, to holding an intellectual discussion with peers, or listening to a speaker ramble on about his time in the Peace Corps.
I think I kind of got off on a tangent. My point is, boarding school can be an incredible experience - but not for everyone. So we should never generalize . A personal experience should not speak on behalf for thousands of others.
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