Boarding school: the story on HearLore

Boarding school

In the year 597 AD, a young boy entered the monastery school at Canterbury, marking the beginning of a tradition that would span over fourteen centuries. This was not merely a place of learning but a total institution where children lived, ate, and slept under the watchful eyes of literate clergymen. The King's School, Canterbury, dates its foundation to this era, making it arguably the world's oldest boarding school. These early institutions were born from a societal need to separate children from their families to ensure they received a standardized education, often in religious settings. The practice of sending children away to be taught by clerics or noble households was recorded in classical literature and U.K. records, establishing a precedent for the modern boarding school. The King's School, Canterbury, dates its foundation to the development of the monastery school in around 597 AD. The author of the Croyland Chronicle recalls being tested on his grammar by Edward the Confessor's wife Queen Editha in the abbey cloisters as a Westminster schoolboy, in around the 1050s. Monastic schools as such were generally dissolved with the monasteries themselves under Henry VIII, although Westminster School was specifically preserved by the King's letters patent, and it seems likely that most schools were immediately replaced. Winchester College founded by Bishop William of Wykeham in 1382 and Oswestry School founded by David Holbache in 1407 are the oldest boarding schools in continuous operation.

The Imperial Engine

During the colonial expansion of the British Empire, boarding schools became a powerful tool for cultural assimilation and imperial control. British colonial administrators abroad ensured their children were brought up in British culture at public schools at home in the U.K., while local rulers were offered the same education for their sons. These institutions inculcated British values and ideals, serving as an effective way to encourage local people to share British ideals and help the British achieve their imperial goals. The classic British boarding school became highly popular during this period, with boarding schools in Britain starting in medieval times when boys were sent to be educated by literate clerics at a monastery or noble household. In the 12th century, the Pope ordered all Benedictine monasteries such as Westminster to provide charity schools, and many public schools started when such schools attracted paying students. These public schools reflected the collegiate universities of Oxford and Cambridge, as in many ways they still do, and were accordingly staffed almost entirely by clergymen until the 19th century. Private tuition at home remained the norm for aristocratic families, and for girls in particular, but after the 16th century, it was increasingly accepted that adolescents of any rank might best be educated collectively. The institution has thus adapted itself to changing social circumstances over 1,000 years. Boarding preparatory schools tend to reflect the public schools they feed. They often have a more or less official tie to particular schools.

Common questions

When was the King's School Canterbury founded?

The King's School Canterbury dates its foundation to the development of the monastery school in around 597 AD. This institution is arguably the world's oldest boarding school and marks the beginning of a tradition spanning over fourteen centuries.

Which boarding schools are the oldest in continuous operation?

Winchester College founded by Bishop William of Wykeham in 1382 and Oswestry School founded by David Holbache in 1407 are the oldest boarding schools in continuous operation. These institutions survived the dissolution of monastic schools under Henry VIII and maintained their status through centuries of educational evolution.

What was the purpose of Native American boarding schools in the late 19th century United States?

The United States government undertook a policy of educating Native American youth in the ways of the dominant Western culture to facilitate assimilation into Western society. These government-managed institutions subjected students to tactics that separated boys and girls and taught skills aligned with Victorian ideals rather than indigenous matrilineal systems.

Who coined the term boarding school syndrome and when?

The term boarding school syndrome was coined by psychotherapist Joy Schaverien in 2011. It identifies a set of lasting psychological problems observable in adults who were sent away to boarding schools at an early age.

What are the oldest remaining academies in the United States?

Some of the oldest remaining academies include West Nottingham Academy established in 1744, Linden Hall established in 1756, The Governor's Academy established in 1763, Phillips Academy established in 1778, and Phillips Exeter Academy established in 1781. These semi-public boarding schools were often sponsored and subsidized by states like Massachusetts to educate rural students before universal public education.

How many boarding schools exist in rural China and how many children live in them?

There were about 100,000 boarding schools in rural areas of Mainland China with about 33 million children living in them. The majority of these schools are located in western China where many migrant workers and farmers send their children to boarding schools.

The Dark Legacy

In the late 19th century, the United States government undertook a policy of educating Native American youth in the ways of the dominant Western culture so that Native Americans might then be able to assimilate into Western society. At these boarding schools, managed and regulated by the government, Native American students were subjected to a number of tactics to prepare them for life outside their reservation homes. In accordance with the assimilation methods used at the boarding schools, the education that the Native American children received at these institutions centered on the dominant society's construction of gender norms and ideals. Thus boys and girls were separated in almost every activity and their interactions were strictly regulated along the lines of Victorian ideals. In addition, the instruction that the children received reflected the roles and duties that they were to assume once outside the reservation. Thus girls were taught skills that could be used in the home, such as sewing, cooking, canning, ironing, child care, and cleaning. Native American boys in the boarding schools were taught the importance of an agricultural lifestyle, with an emphasis on raising livestock and agricultural skills like plowing and planting, field irrigation, the care of stock, and the maintenance of fruit orchards. These ideas of domesticity were in stark contrast to those existing in native communities and on reservations: many indigenous societies were based on a matrilineal system where the women's lineage was honored and the women's place in society respected in different ways. For example, women in native society held powerful roles in their own communities, undertaking tasks that Western society deemed only appropriate for men: indigenous women could be leaders, healers, and farmers. While the Native American children were exposed to and were likely to adopt some of the ideals set out by the whites operating these boarding schools, many resisted and rejected the gender norms that were being imposed upon them.

The Global Reach

Most societies around the world decline to make boarding schools the preferred option for the upbringing of their children. However, boarding schools are one of the aspirational modes of education in some former British colonies or Commonwealth countries like India, Pakistan, Nigeria, and other former African colonies of Great Britain. For instance, in Ghana the majority of the secondary schools are boarding. In some countries, such as New Zealand and Sri Lanka, a number of state schools have boarding facilities. These state boarding schools are frequently traditional single-sex state schools, whose ethos is much like that of their independent counterparts. Furthermore, the proportion of boarders at these schools is often much lower than at independent boarding schools, typically around 10%. In the former Soviet Union these schools were sometimes known as Internat-schools from Latin: school-internat. They varied in their organization. Some schools were a type of specialized schools with a specific focus in a particular field or fields such as mathematics, physics, language, science, sports, etc. For example, in the 1960s Soviet official established a new type of boarding school, an AESC - Advanced educational scientific center. Those schools were parts of some major universities and prepared students to study there. Now, only a few exist in Russia - in Moscow, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg, though several boarding schools still operate in former Soviet republics, and even some new ones are being opened. Other schools were associated with orphanages after which all children enrolled in Internat-school automatically. Also, separate boarding schools were established for children with special needs. In China, there were about 100,000 boarding schools in rural areas of Mainland China, with about 33 million children living in them. In China some children are sent to boarding schools at 2 years of age. The majority of boarding schools are in western China, which generally is not as wealthy as eastern and central China. Many migrant workers and farmers send their children to boarding schools.

The Psychological Toll

The aspect of boarding school life with its round the clock habitation of students with each other in the same environment, involved in studying, sleeping, and socializing can lead to pressures and stress in boarding school life. This is manifested in the form of hypercompetitiveness, use of recreational or illegal drugs and psychological depression that at times may manifest in suicide or its attempt. Studies show that about 90% of boarding school students acknowledge that living in a total institution, like boarding school, has a significant impact and changed their perception and interaction with social relationships. It is claimed that children may be sent to boarding schools to be given more opportunities than their families can provide. However, that involves spending significant parts of one's early life in what may be seen as a total institution and possibly experiencing social detachment, as suggested by social-psychologist Erving Goffman. This may involve long-term separation from one's parents and culture, leading to the experience of homesickness and emotional abandonment and may give rise to a phenomenon known as the third culture kid, or TCK. The celebrated British classicist and poet, Robert Graves 1895 to 1985, who attended six different preparatory schools at a young age during the early 20th century, wrote about the impact of such separation. Some modern philosophies of education, such as constructivism and new methods of music training for children including Orff Schulwerk and the Suzuki method, make the everyday interaction of the child and parent an integral part of training and education. In children, separation involves maternal deprivation. The European Union-Canada project Child Welfare Across Borders 2003, an international venture on child development, considers boarding schools as one form of permanent displacement of the child. This view reflects a new outlook towards education and child growth in the wake of more scientific understanding of the human brain and cognitive development.

The Boarding School Syndrome

The term boarding school syndrome was coined by psychotherapist Joy Schaverien in 2011. It is used to identify a set of lasting psychological problems that are observable in adults who, as children, were sent away to boarding schools at an early age. Scharverien's observations are echoed by a boarding schoolboy, George Monbiot, who goes so far as to attribute some dysfunctionalities of the U.K. government to boarding schools. British psychotherapist Nick Duffell refers to adults who have gone through boarding school separation as boarding school survivors. He has described some of these individuals as exhibiting behaviors such as a sense of detachment from any relationships, workaholism, compulsive behavior, and a penchant to control. Some elite university-preparatory boarding schools for students from age 13 to 18 are seen by sociologists as centers of socialization for the next generation of the political upper class and reproduces an elitist class system. This attracts families who value power and hierarchy for the socialization of their family members. These families share a sense of entitlement to social class or hierarchy and power. Significant numbers of them enter the political upper class of society or join the financial elite in fields such as international banking and venture capital. Elite boarding school socialization causes students to internalize a strong sense of entitlement and social control or hierarchy. This form of socialization is called deep structure socialization by Peter Cookson and Caroline Hodges 1985. This refers to the way in which boarding schools not only manage to control the students' physical lives but also their emotional lives. Nick Duffell, author of Wounded Leaders: British elitism and the Entitlement Illusion , A Psychohistory, states that the education of the elite in the British boarding school system leaves the nation with a cadre of leaders who perpetuate a culture of elitism, bullying and misogyny affecting the whole of society. According to Peter W Cookson Jr 2009, the elitist tradition of preparatory boarding schools has declined due to the development of modern economy and the political rise of the liberal west coast of the United States of America.