It ended up being a nice sunny day today so we were out in our yard and in the garden tidying up what winter left behind. Not much to clean up, just some branches and dead growth. It is so lovely outside. The crocuses are coming up and so are the bluebells. We even saw a Monarch butterfly! I couldn't believe it! Maybe the butterfly knows something we don't know and we won't get any more snow. I hope so.
My plot to make Norbert hate the outside seems to be working. It is so beautiful today that I told him he could go outside with the understanding that there was to be no bloodshed or killing. I opened the door wide and called him but he ran down into the basement. He really is a big 12 pound baby. (Yes, he weighs 12 pounds!)
It does appear that the Zoloft is working and if I could just get past the neverending fatigue I think I would be OK. Al Anon is helping is a huge way and I don't think I would be where I am right now without the program. It helps to keep me level and to let a lot of things go.
Today I watched a program on Netflix called "49 Up". It is a documentary series that has 14 followed children from the age of 7 then checked in on them every 7 years of their life. The concept is interesting but it seems most of the participants have not enjoyed being a part of it. What got my attention is how many British children go to boarding school. That is just about unheard of in Canada. I have a few questions for my readers over the pond. Is it an expectation to send your children away to school? If you went to boarding school did you feel it was worthwhile and why or why not. Did your experience affect your decision to send your children to boarding school?
Boarding schools are not as common in Australia as they are in the UK, but they are still used, particularly by farming families who may not have a school near by. Although they didn't come from a rural background my partner and his sister spent some of their school years as boarders. And my partner loathed it, and resented being sent away from home. His sister is a great deal more reticent about her experiences.
ReplyDeleteI used to think it was a harsh thing to do, and that it affected the child, as children need their families. but then i watched a show about Harrow, and realized that they are sent away to receive this elite education in order that when they grow up they run countries/banks/the world lol..
ReplyDeleteI also used to think it was lazy parents who couldn't be bothered. But..
The schools become a replacement family for many, ( but some hate it .. ( I've heard that Stephen Fry didn't like it)
here it depends on income ( I think) as it's not cheap
* I really enjoyed the documentary Harrow btw.. quite moving, fun, and very interesting*
Boarding schools aren't as common as the Seven-Up series might have suggested. But at the time it started the BBC was run by people who probably went to boarding school.
ReplyDeleteIt's a class thing. The upper crust send their kids to 'public' schools (which aren't public at all of course, but they got their name from a time when the really rich paid to educate their children at home) the middle class send their kids to 'private' schools - aka fee-paying schools. Public and private schools tend to be boarding schools.
The rest of us plebs go to 'state' schools - paid for by the state. It is also possible to pay for your child to attend a boarding school as a day student: that is, they go home at night.
This is all invariably down to cash. An average fee for a child to board for three terms (a school year) is around £30,000. That's about £4,000 more than the average wage. Even attending as a day student will cost about £12,000.
Boarding school kids tend to go on to Oxford and Cambridge and they still tend to get the top jobs in politics, law, etc. Even the BBC still tends to take more privately educated people than state school graduates. Sadly, the UK is still a class-ridden country.
I never knew any children who attended boarding school. We did not even know such opportunities were available. It would have been a traumatic experience to leave my home and family to go away to school. It wasn't all that easy just to go to summer camp for a week. However college was not easy for me when I finally did leave home and had to adjust to life on campus. I missed my mommy and the hot oatmeal cookies she always had baked for us when we got home from school.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine sending my child off to a boarding school. Maybe a week of camp but that's all!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that spring is coming to you and to your soul, as well.
As a kid I dreamed of going to a boarding school, thanks to "Facts of Life." I would have loved the structure and the comparatively low drama.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to watch TV again. Hubby has been hogging it and mostly watching hockey. Gross.
Happy spring! It's hit here as well, although March is such a tease, you never know.
I don't know anyone who has gone to boarding school. I don't have kids, but my friends with kids would never dream of it either.
ReplyDeleteBack when I was in high school, there was this really great public school that required their students to stay in dorms because their curriculum was intense. It's a special science high school for students. It's pretty much like boarding school except they can only come home during Christmas holidays and at the end of the school year. Ironic enough, this same school gives their students allowances, free books, school supplies and board and lodging.
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