Choosing between day schools and boarding schools is a significant decision for both students and parents. While both options have their merits, this article aims to discuss the advantages of day schools over boarding schools. It is important to note that each educational setting has its own unique benefits, and the choice ultimately depends on individual circumstances and preferences.
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Almost every government in the world today has invested so much into the educational sector. The reason being that, every nation understands the importance and impact of education on its citizens. This impact ranges from enlightenment, being able to read and write and to communicate with one another. Education also washes off the taints of the crude days in the society. The value of education cannot be overemphasized in a nation’s life as is seen in the quote that education is the key to a country’s development.
Furthermore, education is known to be divided into the formal and the informal categories; that is the sector that deals in individuals not attending institutionalized schools where knowledge is imparted. This informal part of it entails the individual staying at home and learning from his immediate environment which includes his natural environment and his parents.
The formal sector has to do with establishing institutions where people attend in order to acquire a form of formal knowledge. In Nigeria this sector is decentralized into three which are: the tertiary, the secondary, and the primary institutions. In most settings, it is usually the secondary and tertiary sectors that make use of boarding facilities as a result of the fair maturity of its students.
However, there has been an ongoing debate on which of the two facilities that is, the boarding or the day format used in the formal sector is better for students. It is a reality that each of the forms has its attendant advantages and disadvantages, but this write-up/exposition is here to take a side and to show reasons why Day schools are better than boarding schools.
Reasons Why Day Schools Are Better Than Boarding Schools
1. Less cost: The first reason why day schools are better than boarding schools is because they are less expensive. Findings have shown that day schools are less exorbitant than boarding schools because students concentrate only on their tuition rather paying for accommodation and feeding fees in the school, and even extending it to the purchase of provisions.
This advantage is very beneficial to the parents in third world countries where resources are limited and cost of living is high, because it limits their spending.
2. Faster response to emergencies: Another important reason why day schools are better than boarding schools is because there is effective and rapid response to emergencies for students that attend day schools. It is natural to human beings that in life, there must be some occasions of unprepared happenings. This can come in the form of injurious accidents, sicknesses, etc.
Day schools give students immediate access to their parents in the case of any of the above happenings, for proper attention and quick recovery which the boarding schools in most cases do not give. In boarding environment, school authorities tend to have formal and less cordial relationships with their students, and this goes on to affect the students even in emergency situation. Also, in recent times, boarding school facilities have shown not to usually be in good conditions or are poorly equipped, one of which could be their clinics.
3. Evaluation and guidance: Thirdly, there is the presence of parental evaluation and guidance due to the fact that the students return to their parents after school activities, this gives parents ample opportunity to evaluate and cross-check their children’s school work, making sure that their wards do assimilate what is being taught in school. Parents also help in assisting the students in their assignments of which no one will in boarding schools.
4. The ability to optimize concentration: Day schools offer students the opportunity to focus and concentrate on their studies more than boarding schools will ever grant. This is as a result of the fact that since the students are with their parents after school, the distraction of what to eat or how little the food will be is set aside.
Also, the distraction of sneaking out of school to party and the distraction of cultism will be removed. Thus, offering the requisite concentration for studying to the students.
5. The ability to practice/experiment what is learnt in school: Day schools offer students wider opportunities to practice what has been taught in school. For instance, in colleges or secondary schools where Biology is taught, some plants would be mentioned.
A day student will have the wider chances of finding varieties of plants, thereby having firsthand knowledge about what are being taught, more than a boarder who is confined in a limited environment.
6. The ability to have a balanced social life: Day schools as we know are usually a combination of both sexes, that is, the male and the female child. This combination goes a long way in shaping the lives of the students; it helps the different genders in familiarizing with their differences thus creating a harmonious wider society in the future as against boarding schools where only one gender is confined in an environment at the exclusion of the other.
Conclusively, day schools have proven over the years to be more beneficial to students than boarding schools as mentioned above and also in the aspect of the adequate care given by parents and other inclusive trainings offered by parents to their children in their formative years.
7. The importance of family values: The actual definition of a family is when the children experience the affection of their parents and, with any chance, even their grandparents. Parents think that for their kids to adopt family values, they need also to keep in touch with their family.
Staying at home enables youngsters to form strong bonds with their families if they are in a secure, supportive environment. Only by remaining within the family can the kids learn how to love their younger siblings and respect their elders. A boarding school is never going to be helpful here.
8. Parental Care and Assessment: Apparently, a child needs to develop his potentials and this is achievable as part of informal trainings. This is because there is no formal education that will concentrate fully on what the potential of a child is, much less developing it.
These potentials include: creative skills, political skills, artistic skills etc. and they are discoverable by parents and people around them at homes (not in schools). Some parent make out time to porperly examine their children in order to know what they have as potentials and to start working on it even before going to school.
They spend time with their children at galleries and museums during weekend periods and in the evenings so as to discover their personalities and training them in those directions. This is also by way of informal education or training.
Today, parents are admonished to do the same and not push everything about the training of their children to the teachers by way of boarding schooling.
Reasons Why Boarding Schools Are Better Than Day
Aside the benefits of goings to a day school i have already explained above, it should also be noted that boarding school also has its advantages too. As we continue, i will be highlighting some reasons why boarding is better than day school.
1. Independence: One of the major reasons why you should go for a boarding school and not a day school is that fact the it makes students to learn how to be independent from their parents or guidance. What this means is that, students of boarding find it easier to fend for themselves without necessarily contacting their parents and this is a very good thing.
2. More time for study: Today, it is discovered that when children are at home, there are various distractions that will take them away from their studies. So, the extent at which they have learnt in school will not improve while at home. However, it is not so if the children are in a boarding school. They are made to get used to the timetable and give adequate time to their studies without any form of distractions. In boarding schools, there is not interaction with any outsider as they are always focused to what is expected from them per time. The children are continuously supervised throughout the academic session or year.
This adds to the point that boarding school students are better in studies and performs outstandingly in academics. Today, focus is necessary in academics because some students only focus when they are in classrooms and once they are out of school, they direct their minds off their academic activities.
Most recently, it is discovered that focus practices in academics promotes better perspectives, greater self-acceptance, and better emotions to towards issues around people. Again, it has a good impact on health by reducing anxiety, stress and absolute depression. After school, the focus which they have build while in boarding school will keep them going in handling the issues of life.
3. Discipline: Boarding school train students to be more disciplined than day school. In boarding schools, students have limited amount of time to do any thing. They are not always given the choice they want as thought they are at home. This makes it easier for them to learn self-discipline and also adapt to situations.
4. Attachment to parents: Research has shown that one of the fastest way to stop children from being to attached to their parents is to take them to a boarding school. On one hand, it will help the students to live without thinking so much about their parents. And on the other, it will also help parents to avoid being attached to their children and to face other things that are important to them.
5. Personal Development: Boarding school students typically grow more quickly than public school kids in the development of life skills, including time management, work ethic, and independence.
While they receive much support and direction from their families, professors, administrators, and dorm parents, boarding students also have an additional degree of responsibility for their education. This development contributes to the feeling of readiness that many boarders have for entering college, where these abilities are essential for success.
Conclusion
Students might receive a thorough education in day schools or residential schools. However, the setting in which this is done is very different. The majority of contemporary boarding schools have a rigorous no-bullying policy and have counselors and aides who are there to take care of the students, even though they may appear to be restricted or separated. From my perspective, boarding schools are preferable. But before making a decision, several considerations must be made.
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