<p>My son was a couple of years behind Xiggi, but they knew each other from lacrosse. My son ran with the SM varsity as a 5th grader (and up). It IS a small world.</p>
<p>I attended boarding school for high school. It was a convent school with a high, stone wall, topped with iron work surrounding the whole grounds. Somehow, I think the major difference between the school and a youth-incarceration facility was the exorbitant tutition charged by the former!!</p>
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<p>There’s an entire section of this forum dedicated to prep school admissions, and mostly the talk there is about boarding schools.</p>
<p>Boarding school is not a “daycare” arrangement, nor is it mainly for two-career families with lots of travel, though there are students there for that reason. It’s not just for the rich and is not an indication of "the difference between ‘the rich’ and ‘the merely well off’. There are plenty of kids in boarding school on financial aid that are not rich. </p>
<p>Kids go to boarding school for a lot of different reasons, and more challenging academics is a huge reason, as well as family tradition, and yes, sometimes because of parent travel. I had a kid on my hallway whose parents were diplomats of some sort so she went to boarding school instead of traveling with them to wherever they were. There were kids on my hallway there because the academics at schools in their area were not good and they needed the challenge. There were kids there mainly for the horseback riding program. Kids there because they wanted a small school with small classes and teachers that actually cared.</p>
<p>It was very diverse…kids from all over the U.S. from all different kinds of families, kids from all different countries…there were girls from Rwanda, another from somewhere else in Africa, from Korea, from China, Taiwan, Germany. While some kids do come from families that clearly have a lot of money, not everyone is really rich or even rich at all. </p>
<p>I loved my time at boarding school…socially and academically it was a much better fit for me and a much better experience than the local public school and I was lucky enough that my parents could afford it.</p>
<p>Wow, that IS fascinating! The diplomat situation is more the scenario I was imagining. Thanks for the education. I’m already in tears thinking of my son leaving for college next year. No way I could have let him go any sooner! We’re very lucky to have excellent schools in our area. There are also private schools for those uncomfortable with the large-class environment.</p>
<p>So PhotoOp, why do you send your child(ren)? If low-quality schools are an issue I would think most people would use that money to move rather than to invest in boarding school. Are you the parent of an Arts prodigy also?</p>
<p>I’m usually only shocked by the political forum (Mini is in charge of that), but this information was pretty surprising to me!</p>
<p>I really think you should go to the Prep School Admissions section of the forum. We have had numerous discussions about the different reasons parents choose to send their kids to boarding school. It was a wonderful experience for both of my kids- the scholar/musician and the scholar/athlete. Yes, we missed them, but we gave them a great gift by being willing to provide these educational opportunities.</p>