[HPforGrownups] Re: Not quite Hogwarts but...

[Suzanne Burns]

No: HPFGUIDX 6244



Joywitch wrote:

> Then
> again, if a kid has a crappy, dysfunctional family they might be
> better off at a boarding school.  And I have acquaintances who live
> in a small town who sent their younger daughter to boarding school,
> at her request, because the academic opportunities at the local
> schools were very limited.  (or maybe she is a witch...hmmmmm)

LOL I was certainly a witch!

When I was a kid I BEGGED my parents to let me go to a boarding school
precisely because there was so little happening in our small  town and I
craved the challenge. I was also very independent and eager to participate
in things without having to be perpetually tied to the "No, you can't go! I
don't have time to drive you to theatre rehearsals, art classes, or poetry
readings, and NO you can't use the bus because they are dangerous, and NO
you can't go with friends because I will worry about you...." response to
everything I wanted to do.

I was  from a  pretty dysfunctional and controlling family. I used to do all
my writing late at night because it was the only time anyone left me alone.
Books were my escape, and boarding school felt like a dream to me. When I
was sixteen I finally did manage to get away for a summer to study at a
University, and it was everything I had hoped for. Too bad it was only a
summer.

College was the big release-- I felt as though I had finally gotten out of
prison! I got into Smith College and for the first time got to do all of
things I had been wanting for so long, without anybody sitting on me. I
remember well how that felt. I remember also turning green with envy when my
boarding school friends told me about all of the exciting things they did in
high school. I rememeber thinking "You went to Art museums??! You got to
study Art History??! You actually had classmates who were from different
countries??!" It seemed astonishing to me because I never had such
opportunities.

I think boarding schools get a bad rap. I think for a lot of kids it would
be a great opportunity.

Suzanne