ExPatFacts – Boarding School
Know More: Family Issues, Security Overseas
I invite you to tell me the allure and value of boarding schools. And mind you, it had better be good. To me, sending your children away while you work overseas seems like alienation upon alienation.
Overseas I often heard of parents sending their children off to a boarding school rather than put them into the local schools. Given the questionable character and/or availability of suitable education facilities at the place of assignment, the choice seems to make sense, education-wise. But why did you accept an assignment to a place where your children don’t fit in? I can answer my own question as it pertains to diplomats; overseas assignments are sometimes limited, and children keep growing and developing. And sometimes there are dangers. What seems like an acceptable assignment for the entire family ends up under-serving the child. Even then, I wonder if we aren’t forsaking family for career advancement. Maybe you’re in the wrong career.
I kept my children in locally available “American-curriculum” schools, available in many metropolitan areas worldwide. When their unique educational needs became too awkward to risk a bad experience overseas, I came back home until they finished high school.
Again, please tell me the wonders of boarding schools and how they are better than a mediocre education with the parents in the house.