Slovakia really is eager to integrate the future generations of gipsies, who represent up to 10% of the population, into the European society. This is the reason why the Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that they want to send children of Roma families to boarding schools. He said that these children have to be taken from their impoverished settlements and put into boarding schools to speed up the integration in the European Union.

The cause of this change was the negative report of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navy Pillay. During her annual visit, she criticised that the situation of the unemployed and poor gipsies in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. She pointed out the worsening treatment of this minority.

By putting the children in a boarding school, the government wants to separate them from the life in their settlements. The Prime Minister marked there is no other option because today, many of the children are sent to schools for mentally disabled and suffer from racism. According to him, the schools are the only way to break the cycle of racism.

But what about the ethnicity of these children? When they lose contact with their homes, they lose contact with their parents and their culture. Is it OK for us to try and change everyone and thereby kill other cultures? I think that everyone who wants to go to boarding school should be able to go and the other way around. What do you think? Please respond on the boarding school blog.

Why is it easier to send your kids to boarding school when they don’t have a  proper behavior? Is it  the way out?

I just wanted to start with that question because schools are made to give a complementary education to children. In my opinion, what you can give at home is more valuable and helpful. From the beginning on: the discipline, having conversations about real issues, showing respect and explaining that you have to enjoy life but  do this with care and conscientiousness. All of this is going to help children to understand different situations.

I do not want to say that only the parents are responsible for their kids, sometimes there are problems we cannot cope with on our own, but in some cases the institutions are not going to guarantee the change of behavior.

I’m a mother and I’m really impressed on how many advertisements you can find on websites who sale you “the best way to make your child behave”. If it were a box of cereals, it would help you to get thinner. I’m amazed by how special schools for troubled teens are increasing every day: now I think to myself “what it is going on?” Is it just a parent’s problem or is there something really happening with our society? Education system? At home?

Right now I find society cruel and materialistic. Our kids are trying to survive everyday things at schools that make them feel under pressure. As we all feel sometimes in our jobs  and even we have difficulties with handling. So Image haw children must feel when they try coping.

We all know the uncontrolled problem of the drugs to which our children can be very near at times. This is where I call for common sense that says that we cannot handle this alone. To send them away is going to work for a while but the social situation around them has not changed. The solution is not to keep them with us all their lives and isolate them from the world but sending them away isn’t the best solution either.  There are other ways…

Yes you can find specialists, boarding schools that are prepared to manage the tough situation; professionals who can help you out but I think you have to be sure to make that decision and let your common sense bring you part of the answer to help your children.

A recent study showed that students from day and boarding schools are more prepared for further education. They also seem to achieve a greater career development than students who studied in public schools.

The Association of Boarding Schools surveyed over 2700 high school students and adults in different points in their lives to learn about their experiences. They found out that the stereotypes of private education are not true. First of all, the study shows that those who have been to or study at a boarding schools, are more than ten percent more satisfied in comparison with their peers at public and private schools. They find their schools more challenging and estimate the quality of teaching very high.

Another advantage seems to be the interaction and learning beyond the classrooms: in the dining room, on playing fields, in the dormitory,… It opens their minds up, they change their vision on the world and they are more likely to develop strong bonds with each other.

Furthermore, it gives students a very good preparation for university: 87% said they were well prepared, with only 71% of students in private day schools and just 39% of public schools. And by late career, more than half of the boarding school students have reached a top management position. They seem also to be more independent and have a better time management.

The best part of the study is that some 90% of the boarding school alumni say that they would repeat their experience if they were given the opportunity. So I think t is time to leave the myths about boarding school behind us, don’t you think so?