Boarding Schools

Last reviewed: February 2017

Abstract

Boarding or residential schools first appeared in medieval Europe under the sponsorship of church and royalty and were managed by monasteries. Their purpose was the education of the children of the nobility and, in time, of wealthy merchants and landowners. Specialized boarding schools, such as schools for the deaf and assimilation schools for indigenous children, opened at the inception of the modern era. In the beginning, boarding schools were open only to males. In the nineteenth century, “finishing schools” opened to educate wealthy young women. Boarding schools have also been the focus of criticism for abuse, oppression, and elitism.

Overview

The terms “boarding school” and “residential school” are often used interchangeably. Boarding schools offer room and board, and are educational institutions in which minor students are enrolled for their education and in which they live during the academic year. In a boarding school, students are often known as pupils. In contemporary society, residential schools are usually independent from the public school system, and managed by religious or private organizations with boards of directors or trustees.

Among the particularities of boarding schools is the fact that they usually have the legal power to act in loco parentis. “In loco parentis” is a Latin term used in law that means “in place of the parents,” and refers to the legal parental or guardianship responsibilities placed on an individual or organization. Although the principle of in loco parentis can be used today for multiple situations, in the United States it was first used for educational institutions. In a boarding school, this responsibility is distributed throughout the boarding school’s staff and faculty, including school masters and house parents.

Many types of boarding schools exist. According to the Boarding School Review, college preparatory boarding schools are the most common and can be organized in the following ways.

• All boys or all girls boarding schools
• Military boarding schools
• Arts Schools
• Religious boarding schools
• Therapeutic boarding schools

There are also junior boarding schools, for grades 8 and lower. Other organizations add co-educational boarding schools, for both girls and boys, and vocational boarding schools. Some boarding schools allow day students who return to their homes by the end of the school day. Some board students during the week and others during the school year. In some cases, boarding schools may offer board but send children to the local day school for their education.

In general, however, boarding schools tend to have a connotation as elitist. Historically, the elite in the most prosperous countries of Europe and in the United States has consisted of wealthy white Protestants and their families. By the end of the twentieth century, however, that began to change, and the elite became more racially and ethnically diverse. Nevertheless, the teaching philosophy and lifestyle of boarding schools contribute to the formation of individuals with the goal of maintaining the privileges, values, perceptions, and goals of a particular social class. On the other hand, there have long existed boarding schools that cater to specific groups in the population, not all of them privileged.

Boarding schools were conceived in the middle ages. Western style boarding schools were initially managed by the church, specifically in monasteries, and began in Germany, Great Britain, and Switzerland. They educated male children from the aristocracy and wealthy bourgeoisie, though, until the sixteenth century, it remained the norm for aristocratic families to educate their children at home. In the twelfth century, the Vatican ordered some orders, such as the Benedictine monasteries, to open charity schools. In the sixteenth century, a demand grew for secular schools open to the public, that is, to non-noble families who could afford to educate their sons. (It remained the norm for girls to be educated at home until the eighteenth century.)

In the modern era, boarding schools unaffiliated with a religious doctrine began to open, fostering a wide diversity of teaching methods. Among the first boarding schools to open were schools for the deaf in Revolutionary France. The French National Assembly ordered in 1791 the creation of an institution for the deaf in Paris. By the end of the decade, a second school was in operation. Rather than being affiliated with a religious institution, these schools were funded by the government, which created several dozen scholarships so that lower-income deaf children might attend. The scholarships were allocated to a relatively few number of deaf children, but the model of deaf boarding schools spread across Europe and the Americas.

Whereas in the past boarding schools were mainly didactic institutions, in modern society they take a more holistic approach, often fostering athletics, research, and the liberal arts, while accommodating a variety of learning styles and disabilities and fostering individual personal strengths. In the twentieth century, boarding schools began to vary in educational methods and academic orientation, although most remain pre-college preparatory. The main differences relate to pedagogical methods, such as Montessori, Steiner, Waldorf, and others, as well as organizational structure (private, state-funded, or religiously affiliated).

In some societies, boarding schools are more common than in others. They remain the least popular educational choice for parents. For example, in the United States they comprise less than 1 percent of secondary schools (Steel et al., 2015). Nevertheless, boarding schools remain a popular choice among some groups. Among the advantages of boarding schools as expressed by parents in some surveys are:

• The focus and encouragement of individual talents and strengths
• Personalized support and homework assistance
• Tailoring coursework to learning or behavioral difficulties
• Quality education
• Valuable peer connections

In one Australian study (Mander, Cohen, & Pooley, 2015) comparing boarding school students and day school students across a dozen schools, researchers found positive results favoring boarding students and superior development in college academics. In fact, in some studies conducted with parents of children enrolled in boarding schools for disadvantaged students, parents credit boarding school education with aiding their children become more autonomous and mature. A new rise in state-sponsored public boarding schools follows the consideration among experts that it offers an adequate model for low-income and at-risk students. Therapeutic residential programs have also been suggested as adequate for children who need stronger support and guidance than what they may receive at home.

Further Insights

Boarding schools develop differently across societies. In some, such as England, students often begin fairly young. A tradition has developed among many groups in which children are sent to the same boarding schools as one or both parents, generation after generation. Enrollment in these schools is considered voluntary, though the decision to attend is usually parent-driven. There has been some serious criticism of boarding school culture, including that it reinforces notions of superior social standing at elite institutions, has been used to oppress indigenous and minority children with forced assimilation practices, and that it has caused serious psychological problems in vulnerable students.

Because of its relatively captive student body, it is understood that boarding schools have a strong impact on the psychology and development of students. Critics argue that they have been used to cement power structures and cultural identities. A boarding school is usually a community in isolation from other outside influences and dependent upon the school’s staff and programs. For example, in the United States, boarding schools have traditionally been attended by those with the most socioeconomic power (Gundlach Graham, 2012).

Among the most elitist of boarding schools were schools for wealthy girls known as “finishing schools” or “charm schools,” which focused on preparing young women for marriage and life in society’s upper crust. Social graces took primacy over academic subjects, and the most distinguished schools were located in Switzerland. Finishing schools declined in the second half of the twentieth century as opportunities for women expanded and academic subjects took priority. Towards its end, however, finishing schools witnessed a revival in the form of charm schools for corporate environments.

Boarding schools can be used to foster structures of power and have far-reaching social and economic impact. They have also been used, however, to educate disadvantaged groups, such as deaf people and children with behavioral difficulties. Native Americans and Alaska Natives were forcibly enrolled in so-called Indian schools in a program intended to “kill the Indian” through education. Assimilation was to be accomplished by removing children from their homes to isolate them from their communities and cultural practices, languages, and history, and substituting a Eurocentric curriculum and lifestyle (Child, 2016).

Indian Boarding Schools. By the late nineteenth century, the U.S. government commenced a special boarding school program meant to radically alter the traditions and lifestyle of Native Americans under the guise of “civilizing” their children. This program was not unique to the United States; it was also used in other countries with indigenous populations, such as Canada and Australia. Tens of thousands of Native American children were separated from their communities, and sent long distances from their homes to live in these schools. They struggled with fear, loneliness, and abuse, as they were forced to learn the culture and ideology of white society. Many lost their lives to illnesses for which they were unprepared, such as measles, but others survived and even thrived, despite the difficulties, and found ways of preserving their Native identities.

Despite its government sponsorship, many of these schools were religious. Even before the first BIA operated school, the U.S. government provided funds to religious missionary boarding schools for the education of Native American children. Richard Pratt, an army officer, was the founder of the first Indian boarding school created by the BIA. Pratt famously declared that the purpose of such schools was to “kill the Indian” in order to “save the man.” Native pupils, separated from their families, were forced to abandon their first language, traditions, and religion. In the 1960s, a congressional report found a culture of abuse ran rampant in many of these schools. After scathing government reports, most Indian boarding schools closed.

The education provided to Native American children in boarding schools was not college preparatory. Instead, it was strongly gendered and focused on manual labor (Slivka, 2011), such as mechanical trades and agricultural work. Girls were trained in laundry, sewing, and cooking.

Native American boarding schools largely failed to produce the assimilation their educators and advocates envisioned (Charbonneau-Dahlen, Lowe, & Morris, 2016; Child, 2016). Young Native Americans found ways to resist the program’s chief mandate and even experienced some of the positives for which more privileged institutions are noted, such as the forging strong friendships and a shared sense of identity. Margaret Connell-Szazs (2006) notes that while most Indian schools were tools for assimilation, many Native families wanted their children to receive the kind of education that would allow them to transcend cultural and social frontiers. This led to the creation of elite Native American boarding schools, which benefited, among others, leading Cherokee families.

Public Urban Boarding Schools. Boarding schools as a specific education program has gained considerable interest among private organizations, such as the SEED Foundation, and public school systems, to provide college-preparatory educational opportunities to disadvantaged and at-risk students. The SEED schools movement began in 1997, when the first SEED school opened in Washington DC. Its purpose was to offer children from struggling neighborhoods a quality preparatory boarding school education. Although there have been many criticisms leveled at SEED schools, such as its expensive model and high attrition rate, SEED has gotten positive academic results.

The public boarding school movement remains small, but experts believe it can have long-term positive effects for its target population. This includes students with many personal and social challenges, students who lack access to quality programs, tutoring, who have parents unable to provide them with supervision or academic support, who face violence and other danger in their families or communities, may all benefit from a residential boarding school that provides superior academics, round-the clock-care and personal support.

Among the newest of these boarding schools are the public urban boarding schools (PUB) schools (Crier, 2015). These are located in areas of greatest need by state or local school districts. The aim is to focus on at-risk students, those who may fail at finishing their secondary education because of environmental obstacles, such as lack of opportunity for tutoring or extra-curricular activities. Moreover, underprivileged children suffer high rates of housing instability, which lead to constant school changes and lower academic performance. Homeless children and adolescents in foster care are also at high risk of negative educational experiences.

PUB schools offer stability, a rigorous academic preparation, enrichment activities, a nurturing or protective environment, and adult supervision. Ideally, by being housed at school, students enjoy greater safety and stability; they are free from threatening environmental issues and may focus on their studies, participate in extra-curricular activities, and develop their talents and skills. While it is not a PUB school’s mission to solve a student’s family difficulties, it can help alleviate some of the negative educational impact and launch a student towards a college education.

Issues

Some sort of boarding school system exists in nations around the world, including China, India Russia, and Turkey. Most countries develop educational policies that impact the boarding school system to different extents. In most countries where the government has instituted boarding schools, it has not made boarding schools the preferred method of education. In Turkey, for example, boarding schools are established regionally in order to serve children from disadvantaged families and ensure that they may finish their secondary education.

In independent democratic countries formed from the former colonies of the British Empire, such as India, Jamaica, Pakistan, Canada, and some African countries, boarding school education is popular among upper and middle class parents. In some nations, such as Ghana, most secondary schools are residential.

Preferences may also be shaped by necessity rather than culture. In Australia, parents often live in very remote rural areas and must consider boarding school options to a greater extent than parents residing in urban areas. Most rural parents have very limited school options and when selecting a boarding school, they must consider institutions located very far from home.

Children are also sent to boarding schools at different ages. In China, some are sent as young as two years old. In most countries, however, there are commonalities among boarding schools: the rate of state-sponsored residential schools is much lower than that of independent or private ones; boarding schools also tend to be single-sex schools.

These issues have given rise to the identification of Boarding School Syndrome, a mental health problem first named by psychotherapist Joy Schaverien in 2011. Dr. Schaverien coined the term to describe a set of long-term psychological problems suffered by adults who were sent away from home to boarding schools at a very young age. This syndrome arises from the trauma of loneliness and sometimes abuse, as well as the pain of separation, which hinders the proper emotional maturation of the human being (Renton, 2015).

Terms & Concepts

Assimilation: Process by which an individual or a group incorporates the social characteristics of another culture.

At-risk students: Usually a student who is at risk of failing in school or dropping out completely.

Boarding School Syndrome: The trauma effects of being sent to boarding school too young and enduring years of the culture of brutality prevalent in many boarding schools, usually British.

Finishing Schools: Elite private schools for girls meant to prepare them for life in wealthy society.

In Loco Parentis: A Latin term used in law, meaning “in place of the parents” and referring to the legal parental or guardianship responsibilities placed on an individual or organization.

Indian Boarding Schools: Schools established during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the United States and Canada, with the purpose of de-culturing young Native Americans from their original cultures and raising them according to Eurocentric standards.

PUB Schools: Public boarding schools, meant to give children from struggling families and impoverished neighborhoods access to quality college preparatory education.

Bibliography

Charbonneau-Dahlen, B. K., Lowe, J., & Morris, S. L. (2016). Giving voice to historical trauma through storytelling: The impact of boarding school experience on American Indians. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 25(6), 598–617. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=118861514&site=ehost-live

Child, B. J. (2016). Indian boarding schools. Journal of Curriculum & Pedagogy, 13(1), 25–27. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=116262780&site=ehost-live

Crier, S. B. (2015). Beyond money: Public urban boarding schools and the state’s obligation to make an adequate education attainable. Journal of Law & Education, 44(1), 23–94. Retrieved October 5, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=100248628&site=ehost-live

Gundlach Graham, A. (2012). The power of boarding schools. American Educational History Journal, 39(1/2), 467–481. Retrieved October 5, 2016 from Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=93541638&site=ehost-live

Mander, D. J., Cohen, L., & Pooley, J. A. (2015). ‘If I wanted to have more opportunities and go to a better school, I just had to get used to it’: Aboriginal students’ perceptions of going to boarding school in Western Australia. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 44(1), 26–36. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=108714413&site=ehost-live

McCarthy, M. (2016). Parental choice of school by rural and remote parents. Issues in Educational Research, 26(1), 29–44. Retrieved October 5, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=114247398&site=ehost-live

Quartaro, A. T. (1995) Assimilation in modern France: The Deaf community, social status, and educational opportunity, 1815–1870. Journal of Social History, 29(1), 5–23.

Renton, A. (2015). Boarding school syndrome review: Education and the pain of separation. The Guardian. June 8, 2015.

Slivka, K. (2011). Art, craft, and assimilation: Curriculum for Native students during the boarding school era. Studies in Art Education, 52(3), 225–-242. Retrieved October 5, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=61796405&site=ehost-live

Steel, A., Erhardt, R., Phelps, R. P., & Upham, P. (2015). Estimates of enhanced outcomes in employment, income, health, and volunteerism for the Association of Boarding Schools Member School Graduates. Journal of Advanced Academics, 26(3), 227–245. Retrieved October 5, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=108522816&site=ehost-live

Szasz, M. C. (2006). Through a wide-angled lens: Acquiring and maintaining power, position and knowledge through boarding schools. In Clifford Trafzer, Jean A. Keller and Lorene Sisquoc (Eds.), Boarding school blues: Revisiting American Indian educational experience. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.

Suggested Reading

Fear-Segal, J., & Rose, Susan D. (Eds.). (2016) Carlisle Indian Industrial School: Indigenous histories, memories, and reclamations. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.

Kahn, Shamus R. (2012). Privilege: The making of an adolescent elite at St. Paul’s School. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Lindhorst, L. (2015). Behind the mask of glory: Combating child abuse in olympic boarding schools. George Washington International Law Review, 47(2), 353–382. Retrieved October 17, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Academic Search Ultimate. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=102650103&site=ehost-live

Mander, D. J., & Guenther, J. (2015). Enabling vVoice: Aboriginal parents, experiences and perceptions of sending a child to boarding school in Western Australia. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 44(2), 173–183. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=112035833&site=ehost-live

Martin, A. A., Papworth, B., Ginns, P., & Malmberg, L. (2016). Motivation, engagement, and social climate: An international study of boarding schools. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(6), 772–787. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=117331599&site=ehost-live

McCreary, T. (2013). Unsettling the settler within: Indian residential schools, truth telling and reconciliation in Canada. Canadian Geographer, 57(4), e38–e39. Retrieved October 23, 2016, from EBSCO Online Database Education Source. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=96520361&site=ehost-live