Why Boarding School

From the 1600s to the 1800s there was no such thing as public education. The 12 years of grade school through high school we are accustomed to in the 20th-century did not exist. Small private schools, not public schools, provided schooling for young people.

The Bible was the focus of learning in colonial times. Most lessons were practical ones learned in the home and in the fields. Robert Peterson's article Education in Colonial America explains how education worked back then.

Colonial education

Education in colonial days was quite stratified. Boys learned core subjects such as reading and math. Girls learned the domestic arts. Only white children received an education until slavery was abolished. Teachers were frequently well-intentioned men who themselves did not have much formal education. Yes, back then, most teachers were men. Colonial Era Education in the United States in K12 Academics offers a detailed look at schools in the late 17th and early 18th-centuries. Once again, it is important to note that there were no public schools or compulsory education in colonial America. Schools sprouted up where there was a need for them in the population centers of the day such as Boston and Philadelphia. Otherwise, education took place in the home.

This video offers an overview of education in colonial America.

Religious schools

Religious missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church established the first private schools

Boarding Schools in a Minute gives an overview of independent residential schools in North America. There is much more to boarding schools than these brief headlines convey. Hopefully, these bullets will encourage you to explore this very special education option in depth.

95% of these boarding schools are high schools serving grades 9 through 12, with many schools offering a Post-Graduate Year or Grade 13. A handful of junior boarding schools serve grades 6-9.

Most boarding schools operate within a traditional school year of September through May. A few schools begin their year in August. A couple ends their school year in June. One school only operates during the summer session.

In 2023, there were approximately 450 boarding schools. Tuition at these schools ranges from free to well over $60,000 annually. Boarding schools come in many shapes and sizes. Some are small, with 125 or so students in grades 10 through 12. Others are large, with over 1200 students in grades 9 through 12. Most fall into what is best described as a medium-sized school with a population of 350-450 students.

Many boarding schools are non-sectarian, i.e., they adhere to no particular religious denomination's teachings and views. What they offer instead is an amalgam of mainline religious thought and philosophy. Other schools follow the teachings and beliefs of a particular religion. For example, Jesuit boarding schools adhere to the teachings of

It is fascinating to delve into the beginnings of a private school. It's the time when the school is so malleable and so strongly influenced by its founder's zeal and lofty goals. The community is tiny compared to what it will morph into over the years, indeed over the centuries, in some cases. The hardships and sacrifices which are endured are almost unimaginable in this day and age. when new schools seem to pop out of a delivery box fully funded and all set to go.

I hope that you will explore these five schools against the backdrop which I have set out above. They are unique as private schools always are. They have great personalities, characters, and rich histories. Yet they share a common theme and purpose: to provide the very best well-rounded education for their students so that their graduates can make a difference in the world today.

Annie Wright School, Tacoma, Washington

Founded in 1881 Number of students: 436 Grades PK-12: Boys and girls day school PK-8. Girls boarding and day: 9-12 Religious Affiliation: Nonsectarian Setting: Urban

Overview: The school was established by an Episcopal bishop. James Paddock with the financial support of businessman Charles Wright. Bishop Paddock named the school in honor of Wright's daughter Annie. The school was a girls' school until the earthquake of 1949 damaged Lowell School, the local boys' school. AWS set up temporary quarters for boys. The coeducational program expanded to 8th grade in the 1970s.

AWS

In this article we examine five more remarkable private schools which were established with a vision and supported with munificence. The Phillips Family which established the Phillips Academies at Exeter and Andover back in the 18th century had the purest of motives in mind. They understood that a well-educated citizenry would ensure the future of the very young United States of America. "Above all, it is expected that the attention of instructors to the disposition of the minds and morals of the youth under their charge will exceed every other care; well considering that though goodness without knowledge is weak and feeble, yet knowledge without goodness is dangerous, and that both united form the noblest character, and lay the surest foundation of usefulness to mankind." Echols, Edward (1970). The Phillips Exeter Academy, A Pictorial History" Exeter Press

What was taught in these early schools? Bear in mind that there were no schools in America when the colonists arrived. As a result, the early settlers did not have to follow traditions or laws governing the education of their children. Since freedom from religious oppression was the reason so many of the colonists had left England, they made sure that their religious teachings were the core of their academic curricula. Also on the list of subjects were useful skills such as simple arithmetic and spelling. Schools ran year round.

Milton Hershey and Stephen Girard founded their schools in a different time in our nation's maturation. The industrial revolution

I just read another one of those discouraging articles in the New York Times about the low esteem in which America holds its teachers in the 21st century. Author Sam Dillon is referring to public school teachers. This is a difficult time for most public school boards of education as they try to figure out what programs to reduce or eliminate to balance their budgets. Since local school districts are funded principally from taxes on real property, they cannot simply raise the mill rate. Historically, local residents will not pass budgets that have large tax increases. Inevitably, teaching positions are on the table. Teachers face salary and benefit cuts or, even worse, outright job losses. While I most certainly empathize with the teachers' predicament, I also know that private schools stand to reap the benefit of having some of these gifted professionals join their ranks. Besides being able to have a job in their chosen profession, why else would professional teachers want to teach in a boarding school? They would want to do so for many of the same reasons why you and I want our children to attend such residential schools. Let's look at some of the factors which might make an experienced public school teacher consider teaching in the private K-12 sector.

Academic Standards

Teachers want to teach. They love their subject. They know it inside and out at the level at which they have been teaching. They know all the tricks and ways to light