ARE BOARDING SCHOOLS BECOMING A BREEDING HOME FOR MENTALLY DAMAGED KIDS?

TRIGGER WARNING: This article is a product of first-hand research alongside the writer’s thoughts. The purpose is not to tarnish the image of any educational institution. But to comment on the social and psychological dilemma, we have failed to recognize.

“That time for boarding school, senior go talk say make you help dem wash boxers. Dem no born you well make you no do am. Them go carry your food for dinning, nothing wey you fit do.”

“We go use boiling ring cook rice. Any wire we see for room we go run extension socket” 

“E get one-time wey be say I put all my provisions for locker. Guy, dey drink my tin milk finish. I couldn’t even see any sign where dey puncture the tin.”

I wanted to say something, drop a few comments about my experiences too, except that I couldn’t. I had no experience. It was in my first year, the first semester. My very first time away from Home. But all of my roomies have had a similar experience at a younger age before me. They had attended boarding schools for their secondary education. Here we are in the prestigious Great Ife, in the most radical hostel -Awo Hall of then in Obafemi Awolowo University of then. Yes! Of then, not now. Their tales-fairy in nature. I just couldn’t believe it. We laughed at the funny ones and sighed at the deep ones too. They were mostly stories of bullies and some kids trying their best to survive like they were reliving William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. 

When a child leaves home and comes to live in a community of students and teachers at the boarding school, he undergoes considerable psychological changes. Have you heard of the term: Boarding School syndrome? It states an identifiable cluster of learned behaviors and emotional states that follow growing up in the boarding school. This behavior results in psychological distress, depression, difficulties in forming relationships, and even emotional

Ahan! Guy, calm down. It is not that deep. I think you are allowing the issue of this Sylvester guy to cloud your judgment. 

Okay, let me take you to London. James Blunt. He attended the prestigious Harrow School in London. And guess what? James Blunt said that boarding school was an inspiration for his music as ‘to be taken away from one’s family and locked away for 10 years’ creates ‘an incredible intensity of emotion.’ Rupert Everett said that he could not stop crying upon being sent to boarding school. Kristin Scott Thomas (An English actress) described boarding school as a WICKED THING. 

That one na Oyinbo boarding school oo…. How much more Nigeria? 

You are pained! This is too harsh. 

No, I am not. Don’t get me wrong. Boarding school has it’s benefits on children. They teach discipline, good habits, independence, and self-reliance. All of which is needed in the real world. But -NEWS FLASH- You can learn all that from Home! 

In Nigeria, we rate boarding schools high, especially the prestigious military schools. This obnoxious thought has created a safe haven for offenders and wrong does to thrive. 

Let me tell you the childhood mental effects of boarding schools:

1. Hidden Trauma: The child is exposed to prolonged separation, bullying, and loss at a tender age. Note that at this moment, the child can’t create a coherent narrative of events because even at that moment, he cannot process it. It is sad I have to use the Sylvester case as an example. The innocent kid could not even fathom why he was being bullied or why five other kids decided to give him the beating of his life, leaving him half-dead. 
2. Bereavement: When a child is “homesick,” we often overlook it as insignificant. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” No, the child can never get accustomed to it. He only learns to survive, and if he isn’t lucky enough, he might end up dead! A child is forced to adapt to the irreversible loss of childhood. The child begins to feel homeless even in his own home. His parent’s house becomes like that of a stranger. That is why simple things like jamming the door can make him scared. What is worse, the parents would keep telling him that the school is good for him. 

3. Bullying: Children might suffer from bullying or abuse, and parents will not be able to do anything about it since these kids will not confide in their parents. Often senior students or even teachers force power and abuse little children in many ways. These children themselves cannot do anything about it. Since they are already feeling abandoned and alone, they consider quietly bearing it as the only way to survive it. This can really alter a child’s psychology and affect the rest of their life.

4. Gay/Lesbianism tendencies: Lol, call me homophobic all you like. I really don’t care. The age of adolescence is a time of emerging sexuality. The young child is getting to understand themselves. He is still trying to know why he has a penis, and his sister doesn’t. Now imagine placing the duty of sexual education in the hands of stranger teachers and schoolmates. They would explore the child psychologically and physically in the form of assault. And don’t think this is a Nigerian thingy:

Here is a comment from writer Al Alvarez a

Al Alvarez, a writer did say that in his boarding school. 

Sex was part of the school’s culture, but it was all pretty ingenious. It wasn’t a culture of gang rape; it was boys getting crushes on other boys. It was like a ghastly parody of courtship, more to do with adolescent yearning than lust. Imagine it: 650 adolescents with nothing on their mind but sex who had to try to sublimate it all into playing rugger.

Boarding schools are becoming breeding homes for mentally damaged kids. Parents still choose to send their children to boarding schools with all of these? Why?