A unique claim that modern technology means boarding pupils no longer feel cut off from their parents ignores the deep and lasting effects of institutionalised abandonmentTwo things are infinite,suggested Einstein: the universe and mankind’s stupidity. Should we survive as a species, we will surely glimpse back with horror on how we sanctioned the abandonment of children in boarding schools. We may wish we had outlawed publicity stunts such as an article in the Telegraph this week celebrating the fact that: “nowadayss boarders are no longer cut off from their overprotective parents.” This is apparently due to the smartphone, or which has “killed the ‘traditional’ boarding schools’ experience”,according to an “expert” who happens to be Hilary Moriarty, former director and marketing guru of the Boarding Schools organization.
Moriarty seems unaware of the evidence: not one child development theory supports the British habit of sending children away from their homes. Leading neuroscientists and attachment theorists now conclude that the trauma of early boarding has severe repercussions in adult family life; the publisher Routledge has commissioned two unique books on psychotherapy with ex-boarders in the past two years, and as demand for informed therapeutic treatment outstrips supply.
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Source: theguardian.com