As a product of boarding school myself, I can assure you that boarding programs provide an incredibly supportive and connected environment in which to live, learn and grow. In my opinion, boarding school is a college and life prep environment in its truest sense. Unfortunately, there are a number of myths associated with boarding school that inspire negative assumptions. I am here to debunk those myths and give you a little insight into what makes Darlington's boarding program so special.
Myth #1: Boarding school means your parents don’t love you.
This is a terrible myth perpetuated by movies. In our experience, parents making the decision to “go the boarding route” do so out of immense love and care for their child’s experiences both now and in the future. They wish to give their child new opportunities and relationships that would not be possible otherwise. They wish for their child to have more choices, the ability to achieve greater than themselves, and to make their mark on the world.
The majority of our boarding school parents here at Darlington School see their children on school breaks, if not more frequently, and talk often (if not daily) through a variety of channels. Most parents have their child’s head of house on speed dial and logon to the parent portal on a daily basis to maintain a detailed awareness of their child’s academic progress. Our teachers email with them regularly just as any teacher would to any parent, as often as needed.
Boarding parents often treat their child and his or her housemates to birthday treats and/or special dinners throughout the year. In addition, we often see parents travel with our sports academies to tournaments around the country and visit campus when their child is doing something special, like starring in the winter musical. We love to see this kind of engagement from our boarding community!
Myth #2: Boarding school means you can’t make it in the real world.
Most boarding schools do not exist as a dumping ground for young people with disciplinary issues and other concerns. Rather, boarding schools like Darlington have high academic and moral standards in place to keep the community full of those who willingly choose boarding school for the opportunity it brings.
While the motivations may vary from family to family -- those focused on sports or music academies, shooting for highly competitive colleges, desiring cultural immersion with students from around the globe, or others -- only those students who are able to function within loosely structured framework will do well in boarding school. Students must learn to be more independent and self-sufficient at an earlier age than most and must have the ability to navigate this freedom wisely from day one.
Myth #3: Boarding school keeps you sheltered and unprepared for real life.
We can’t think of anything more real than living and working with people you didn’t know. The right boarding school builds independence, self-confidence and self-advocacy before a student attends college, making it the only true college-prep education.
Not only does boarding school prepare you for college, it prepares you for life. This is truly what differentiates an independent boarding school from a day school. Within a community made up of day students, boarding students, and children of faculty, students still experience the diversity of resources, background, and experiences that challenge assumptions.
Within the Darlington Community, you will be making all the same real-world choices about how to treat others, how to work with them to accomplish goals and how to live peacefully in close quarters. In many ways, a teenager in boarding school is more prepared than non-boarding peers for college and life as an adult within a global, interconnected world.
Myth #4: Boarding school is like the Army.
Not all boarding schools are created equal. And just because you live at school doesn’t mean that your bed is inspected every morning and you march walk in lines.
On the contrary, Darlington School has been purposeful in creating a framework of freedom in which boarding school students learn to navigate daily challenges, self-advocate, forge relationships and make choices for themselves. Darlington is a community of trust and our expectations are high, but we understand that making mistakes is essential to the learning process. Our students have many opportunities to make their own decisions and experience consequences within a structure that ensures safety.
Darlington students have fun; make their rooms their own; experience the world through their housemates; and learn the habits of living well through example, wise mentorship and reasonable discipline.
We embrace uniforms for the freedom they bring to focus on the more important matters of life -- meaningful learning and lifelong friendships. And we see that even with uniforms, students still find satisfying ways to express themselves.
Myth #5: Boarding school means stiff, strict dorm parents.
Darlington’s English-style House System, unique to American boarding schools, is the backbone of the family-like campus atmosphere at Darlington School. First implemented in 1999, the House System encourages the development of strong, lifelong student-faculty mentoring relationships and creates an immediate sense of camaraderie for the students who are making their home on Darlington’s campus.
Each house is managed by a head of house who was placed in this important role because of his or her desire and ability to connect with and nurture young people into caring, productive adults. At Darlington, head of house is a full-time role. Unlike most boarding schools, our dorm parents are not overloaded with additional teaching and coaching responsibilities; instead, their one and only job is to be advocates, confidantes and stand-in parents for each student in their care. They are the first person a student can turn to if he or she is falling behind in class or has a terrible stomachache. They serve as an immediate point of contact for parents, building lifelong relationships with each student and his or her family. At the same time, they also focus on the little things that make the transition to boarding school easier, like creating a comfortable living space and celebrating birthdays with cake and ice cream.
Our heads of house are supported by additional teachers and staff members who live on campus (over 40% of our employees also call Darlington home!) The residential life staff, who is dedicated and attuned to the unique needs of young people, teaches students to balance structure and routine with opportunities for independence and leadership. As you can imagine, there is never a shortage of helping hands when a boarding student needs extra guidance on a homework assignment, advice about a friend, a shoulder to lean on, or someone to share in his or her successes.
Our residential faculty members enforce the rules of the handbook equally and fairly because we believe this teaches the value of life within a community. When necessary, our heads of house work to bring fair consequences, dialogue with students who are being disciplined, and help bring individual lessons to the enlightenment of all students within the house.
We find that Darlington students form deep, lasting relationships with our faculty that they cherish the rest of their lives, and we are very proud of that.
