<p>Why a boarding school education?</p>
<p>When you look at public education carefully, it has always been about training a student to perform to a standard on a stnadardized test - sit the student in the classroom; lecture; test; repeat until age 18. It turns out functional people for a functional world.</p>
<p>To the extent that a child bucks the system of their own will and seek knowledge and wisdom, they will find it. But nobody helps lead them to the truth (which is more than the bunch of facts taught in public education).</p>
<p>However, the typical product of a public education is a student who learns to earn a credential (HS Diploma) that is used to get yet another credential (BS)until that leaves them allegedly qualified for work in the real world. They are on a treadmill where learning is a tool to get some material reward they are currently looking at. They are not learning because it is intrinsically interesting, nor because they are curious. That has been systematically drummed out of them (along with much of their native enthusiasm) because they learn exactly what the teacher lectures and have little input as to the direction of the learning.</p>
<p>Your better boarding schools are structured in a way where the smaller classroom can allow open discussion of a subject progressing in a way that the student (through their interaction in the discussion) can relate to creating real meaning to the student. This creates more student enthusiasm to learn. And a motivated student works harder and learns more.</p>
<p>These schools seek to create an engaged partner in learning as opposed to a passive client. Learning becomes a more intrinsically interesting activity, with real social engagement. Yeah, off in the distance, a measuring stick (high level college admission) awaits. And yes, grades and test scores are always there and on the student’s mind, but these are badges of honor as these students are confident in their knowledge and their ability and desire to learn more. They are not on the public education treadmill where the speed and direction is set for them. They are running as fast as their heart desires in a direction only constrained by basic fences defining the subject area they are exploring. The public education model measures how far and fast you completed your cycle on the treadmill. The better boarding school model asks the student what they found exploring the field they were exposed to.</p>
<p>And beyond the classroom, the better boarding school model educates the whole person which public education is not programmed for nor is allowed to do. Residential life allows the integration of classroom education with social education in the boarding community and sports team environments, assuring that a complete person is being built. The teachers/coaches/house parents can better know a student and what motivates him/her when they spend more hours of the day with them. Yes, you can get that kind of social integration in a small town school where everyone lives close together, goes to church together, plays sports together, etc. but that is the exception these days, mostly limited to rural America.</p>
<p>I only hope for my daughter that all of the years of mind-numbing indoctrination to the standard passive learning model in public education hasn’t completely paralyzed the native curiosity about the world that every child has when they are young and don’t know better.</p>
<p>Boarding School Tuition —> $35K - $40K per year.
Other related costs (travel, spending, etc) —> $3K - $5K per year.
A child who wants to learn for a lifetime and contribute to the community —> Priceless.</p>