Boarding Schools: Children's Opinions--Older Children
Figure 1.--The boys in their last year liked their school, but were not uncritical. The boy on the left thought it was a bit to strict. He would have preferred to be a day boy. The boy on the right who was arefect had no problem with boarding.
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Older children have more varied attitudes toward boarding. As the girls tended to leave earlier at about age 11, the older children were odten the boys. At the age of 12 and 13 they were much more likely to have given some thought to their school and their experiences there. Some simply accepted boarding as the normal course of events. Some didn't like it. Other children rather enjoyed it, although they like the other children were always very happy when their parents arrived for exeats and end of terms. The children we spoke to expressed many varied as to their attitude toward boarding. One older boy who had completed his Common Entrance Examination, "Boarding I believe has given me a sense of responsibility and independence as well. I think I am a lot more organised than my friends at home who did not go to a boarding school." A girl told us, "I am getting much better marks here. There are fewer destractions. We get to know our teachers really well. And of course they know everything about us. I think this makes a real difference."
