Editing Boarding school (section)

===Total institution and child displacement===
It is claimed that children may be sent to boarding schools to be given more opportunities than their families can provide. However, that involves spending significant parts of one's early life in what may be seen as a [[total institution]]<ref name="Goffman">Goffman, Erving (1961) ''Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates''. (New York: Doubleday Anchor, 1961); (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968) {{ISBN|0-385-00016-2}}</ref> and possibly experiencing social detachment, as suggested by social-psychologist [[Erving Goffman]].<ref name="Goffman"/> This may involve long-term separation from one's parents and culture, leading to the experience of [[homesickness]]<ref name="Brewin">Brewin, C.R., Furnham, A. & Howes, M. (1989). Demographic and psychological determinants of homesickness and confiding among students. ''British Journal of Psychology'', 80, 467–477.</ref><ref name="fisher">Fisher, S., Frazer, N. & Murray, K (1986). Homesickness and health in boarding school children. ''Journal of Environmental Psychology'', 6, 35–47.</ref><ref name="Thurber">Thurber A. Christopher (1999) The phenomenology of homesickness in boys, ''Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology''</ref> and [[Abandonment (emotional)|emotional abandonment]]<ref name="duf"/><ref name="Schaverien"/><ref name="Power"/> and may give rise to a phenomenon known as the 'TCK' or [[third culture kid]].<ref name="pollock">Pollock DC and Van Reken R (2001). Third Culture Kids. Nicholas Brealey Publishing/Intercultural Press. Yarmouth, Maine. {{ISBN|1-85788-295-4}}.</ref>

The celebrated British classicist and poet, [[Robert Graves]] (1895–1985), who attended six different preparatory schools at a young age during the early 20th century, wrote:

{{blockquote|text=Preparatory schoolboys live in a world completely dissociated from home life. They have a different vocabulary, a different moral system, even different voices. On their return to school from the holidays the change-over from home-self to school-self is almost instantaneous, whereas the reverse process takes a fortnight at least. A preparatory schoolboy, when caught off his guard, will call his mother 'Please, matron,' and always addresses any male relative or friend of the family as 'Sir', like a master. I used to do it. School life becomes the reality, and home life the illusion. In England, parents of the governing classes virtually lose any intimate touch with their children from about the age of eight, and any attempts on their part to insinuate home feeling into school life are resented.<ref>Graves, Robert ''[[Goodbye to All That]]'', chapter 3, page 24 Penguin Modern Classics 1967 edition</ref>|author=Robert Graves}}

Some modern philosophies of education, such as [[constructivism (pedagogical)|constructivism]] and new methods of music training for children including [[Orff Schulwerk]] and the [[Suzuki method]], make the everyday interaction of the child and parent an integral part of training and education. In children, separation involves [[maternal deprivation]].<ref name="Rutter">Rutter, M (1972) Maternal Deprivation Reassessed. London:Penguin</ref> The [[European Union]]–[[Canada]] project "Child Welfare Across Borders" (2003),<ref name="EU-Canada"/> an international venture on child development, considers boarding schools as one form of [[Child displacement|permanent displacement]] of the child.<ref name="EU-Canada"/> This view reflects a new outlook towards education and child growth in the wake of more [[scientific]] understanding of the [[human brain]] and [[cognitive development]].

Data have not yet been tabulated regarding the [[statistics|statistical]] ratio of boys to girls that matriculate boarding schools, the total number of children in a given population in boarding schools by country, the average age across populations when children are sent to boarding schools, and the average length of education (in years) for boarding school students. There is also little evidence or research about the complete circumstances or complete set of reasons about sending kids to boarding schools.<ref name="Little"/>