Education; Educational psychology; Moral education
Whether a boy or girl should be sent to a boarding school or a day
school is, to my mind, a question which must be decided in each case
according to circumstances and temperament. Each system has its own
advantages; in some cases the advantages of one system are greater, in
others those of the other. I propose, in this chapter, to set forth the
kind of arguments which would weigh with me in deciding about my own
children, and which, I imagine, would be likely to weigh with other
conscientious parents.
There are first of all considerations of health. Whatever may be true
of actual schools, it is clear that schools are capable of being
made more scientifically careful in this respect than most homes,
because they can employ doctors and dentists and matrons with the
latest knowledge, whereas busy parents are likely to be comparatively
uninformed medically. Moreover, schools can be put in healthy
neighbourhoods. In the case of people who live in big towns, this
argument alone is very powerful in favour of boarding schools. It is
obviously better for young people to spend most of their life in the
country, so that if their parents have to live in towns it may be
desirable to send the children away for their schooling. This argument
may perhaps cease, before long, to have much validity: the health of
London, for example, is steadily improving, and might be brought up
to the standard of the country by the artificial use of ultra-violet
light. Nevertheless, even if illness could be brought as low as in the
country, a considerable nervous strain would remain. Constant noise is
bad for both children and adults; the sights of the country, the smell
of damp earth, the wind and the stars, ought to be stored in the memory
of every man and woman. I think, therefore, that life in the country
for the greater part of the year will remain important for the young
whatever improvements may be effected in urban health.
Another argument, though a much smaller one, in favour of boarding
schools is that they save the time otherwise spent in going and coming.
Most people do not have a really good day school at their doors, and
the distance to be traversed may be considerable. This argument is
strongest in the country, as the other was strongest for town dwellers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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