<p>Lommis Chaffee or Westminster?</p>
<p>They are both great schools that are close in geography but are different in so many ways. If you are able to select one or the other, then go to revisit day and get a sense of which is a better fit for you. </p>
<p>Of the 2 Loomis is perhaps better known because it is larger and is a member of 10 schools for a marketing advantage. However, better known does not mean better fit for you.</p>
<p>Loomis makes their studets clean the entire school. And you pay 40,000 dollars to go there. Idk. I mean, if you’re paying that much, they should be able to afford a janitor.</p>
<p>Most schools have workprograms that require students to clean. Boarding school does not mean not doing chores that most families would expect their children to do</p>
<p>Normal chores= setting the table, sweeping, keeping room clean, etc.</p>
<p>Abnormal chores= cleaning classrooms, cleaning dorm bathrooms, making day students clean, etc. </p>
<p>And you don’t pay your parents to live there. You do chores, because, well, it’s the least you can do. But if you’re paying that much for school, you shouldn’t have to clean it, too. Loomis’ chores aren’t limited to the dorms, as most boarding school chores are.</p>
<p>Having a cleaning “job” is an old boarding school tradition. Some kept that tradition and many eliminated it. When students have a “job,” it’s usually only a small thing. It’s supposed to engender school pride and a sense of responsibility. I’ve heard that the jobs at Loomis are not a big deal.</p>
<p>The jobs at Loomis aren’t that big a deal. You can sign up for preferences and the jobs change each trimester. Everyone has a dorm job (i.e. picking up the common room or vacuuming the dorm hall once or twice a week) and a work job (i.e. cleaning blackboards or dumping the classroom trash two or three times a week). They don’t clean the bathrooms or do that sort of thing – the school hires custodians take care of that. The work jobs took less than 2 hours per week most of the time. They do seem to instill a sense of responsibility and school pride. The kids also gained a lot of respect for their dorm custodian and school maintenance staff by doing some of the lighter tasks. Don’t be so quick to knock the work job program unless you’ve been there.</p>
<p>Porpoisepal: I am not aware of ANY boarding school student who is paying $40,000 (or $30,000) to attend BS. I know parents who pay that much. But I’ve yet to meet a kid who does. Plus, all boarding schools – in fact nearly all prep schools – charge a tuition that is well below their cost per pupil per year. So even if a student is paying $40,000, she’s still receiving a subsidy.</p>
<p>Service obligations are not weird and I would suggest that those who feel such jobs are beneath them are the ones who will benefit most from doing those jobs. It’s ironic that kids like to talk about their EC’s and community service in order to get in and then, once in, they think it’s odd that a school would expect them to continue that kind of experience.</p>
<p>When my son toured Andover, the tour guide told us that he was suspicious that in the three years he had given tours, they always used the same dorm room. He suspected that it was the largest one in that particular dorm. In fact, he learned, the student who lives in that room is fulfilling his Andover service obligation by keeping his room meticulous day in and day out for admission tours. (The person who lives there chooses that; it’s not a random assignment.)</p>
<p>Choate is very up front in its literature about its expectations that students give back and perform service to recognize what the school and their parents are giving them and sacrificing in order to give them a Choate education. Other schools use campus pick ups as a form of detention and behavior remediation. But that concept is what I find bizarre. Except for prison work details alongside highways, people have an obligation – for their own sense of dignity if nothing else – to clean up after themselves and make their community a great place to be. </p>
<p>At your imaginary “ideal” school, if a student sees a wrapper on the ground, will she pick it up because it’s a reflection on her community; wait for the detention detail or grounds crew to get on top of things; or just not care at all? And how does that sort of thing get there in the first place? </p>
<p>The types of service details described at Loomis-Chaffee help students appreciate how they connect to the larger community…which is a real-life concept worth learning early. I’d rather be around a student feel like she has a vested interest in the larger community than a student who keeps his own room tidy but doesn’t feel like what goes on outside is his responsibility.</p>
<p>Of course this is one of those things where I’m pretty sure that the parents here and the students here will just have to disagree with each other! ;>)</p>
<p>Excellent post!</p>
<p>Maybe I’m just assuming that people at these schools are clean ones. My school has no campus (just a building- it’s like 3 or 4 townhouses put together) and it’s actually really clean because there are trash cans everywhere and we pick up trash we see on the floor just because. I should note that I go to a really small school. </p>
<p>I understand that it make sense for kids to have to clean up around the dorm (and I’ve been to camp, so I get that “clean up days” are necessary) but I think that if the schools try to make the dorms feel like home, then cleaning up classrooms shouldn’t be something kids have to do. Sweeping is fine, keeping the kitchen clean, yeah, that makes sense, etc. Boarding school students shouldn’t have to do things they wouldn’t normally do at home.</p>