He Shoots! He Scores!

Interesting conversation with a parent the other day. She and I had been discussing the 'right' boarding schools for her teenage son who is an avid hockey player. They live here in North Carolina, so the options locally are somewhat limited. (North Carolina is pretty good with tennis and horses. It has the wrong climate for hockey.)

They had narrowed the field to three schools. All of them sounded acceptable from an academic point of view. My caveat concerned the number of day students their favored choice had. That's a subtle consideration any parent has to grapple with when sending a child away to boarding school. Why?

When a boarding school has only a handful of day students, the school basically can control the school community's dynamic. Everybody is confined to the campus. Rules and regulations can be enforced. A parent who lives a thousand miles away from the school needn't worry about her son hopping in a day student's car and heading off to enjoy God-knows-what! Unfortunately a private school located in a wealthy suburb will attract a higher percentage of day students than one located in the boondocks. Combine expensive European cars and spoiled teenagers with substantial cash. Add a gorgeous luxury home with no parents present - they are at work, of course. The result? Well, I'll leave that to your imagination.

This is one of many reasons why you need to engage an educational consultant to help you choose the right private school for your child. He or she will raise issues such as the number of day students a boarding school has so that you can make a deliberate and reasoned decision.

Need more help finding the right school? Read Choosing the Right School. You can always email me if you have questions which aren't answered on this site.