Reform Schools

Reform Schools - Historical Perspective

For the first half of the 19th Century, children were treated as simply smaller versions of adults when it came to arrest, trial, conviction and incarceration.  For young and old, conviction and sentencing meant confinement in “penitentiaries” with brutal and mind-numbing conditions, ranging from harsh physical labor, to beatings, to enforced silence whose violation was severely punished.  Gradually, reformers, elected officials and judges began a form of nullification, refusing to convict or sentence youthful offenders to incarceration due to the appalling conditions they would experience in confinement.

In the mid-1800’s states began to create separate but similar facilities for youthful offenders to imprison them apart from adults. In 1886, the Lyman School for Boys opened in Lyman, Massachusetts, the first in what would become a nationwide experiment with placing troubled youth into prison-like facilities to achieve their reformation. 

Unfortunately, this perceived solution to the problem of what to do with juvenile offenders has not played out the way 19th advocates had hoped. Increasingly sophisticated studies have found that placement in congregate care facilities like reform schools may expose youth to more intensely delinquent or disturbed youth, increase recidivism, destabilize the mental health of young people and place them at greater risk of suicide, and retard employment and educational prospects. In 2006, Justice Policy Institute researchers took a critical look at the impact of the reform school setting on delinquent youth.

Careful studies of youth in Arkansas’ juvenile justice system found that, controlling for other factors, juvenile delinquents who’d spent time in a congregate care facility were much more likely to reoffend. The chances of being recommitted to the Arkansas Department of Youth Services increased 13-fold for youth with prior commitments.  Repeatedly, researchers have shown that delinquent behavior, even serious delinquency, is normative behavior for teenage males, and that incarceration can slow the natural process of maturing out of delinquency. Thus, a more effective alternative such as: therapeutic boarding schools; residential treatment centers and wilderness programs have replaced the antiquated reform school model.

Reform Schools in America

Lyman School for Boys. Established 1846 in Westborough, Massachusetts; reorganized 1886. A large working farm of 500 acres that the residents maintained was able to finance most of the school’s operations until 1955.

Oregon State Training School. Established 1891 in Salem, Oregon. Students were required to spend four hours a day on class work and four hours a day working on learning a skilled trade, or working in the school’s farm and orchard.

Waukesha Home of Refuge. Established 1860 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. This school emphasized the importance of agricultural—especially dairying—skills, and employed residents in the manufacture of brooms, baskets, and other household goods.

Dozier School for Boys. Established in 1900 in Mariana, Florida. Became notorious over the course of several decades for harsh conditions, beatings, and repeated escape attempts made by residents.

Junior Boarding Schools

Junior Boarding Schools - A Historical Perspective

A  junior boarding school is any school that enrolls students in the middle or elementary grades, ending at 9th grade. These schools often offer a day school program for even younger students. There are currently only 124 junior boarding schools operating in the United States and Canada.

The first junior boarding school established in the United States was begun by Eliza Burnett Fay and her sister, Harriet Burnett, in 1866. Seeking to provide a more supportive, nurturing environment than the average boarding school, the two sisters opened their home to seven young male students—five day students and two boarders—and created a curriculum to fit their needs. Other junior boarding schools established during the 19th century were often attached to orphanages, where, it was presumed, the parentless children who lived there could at least be given the benefits of a good education.

Most of the junior boarding schools still in operation in the United States were founded during the first half of the 20th century. During this time, there was a drastic increase in urbanization around the country, and many well-off families felt strongly that their offspring should be educated in a rural setting, so they could learn the skills of hunting, archery, and horsemanship. Thus, many junior boarding schools promoted themselves as places where young men (and sometimes women)  could improve their minds and bodies away from the distractions of city life.

Similar to regular boarding schools, these junior boarding schools often have long and strong sporting traditions. Sports participation—sometimes in all three athletic seasons—may even be required of all students. The Fay School, which I mentioned at the beginning of this article, has grown to offer a total of 20 different sports to its 120 boarders, including wrestling, lacrosse, track, and squash. Most of these schools organize their athletes into intramural teams which compete against each other.
Owing to the younger age range of junior boarding school residents and students, the curriculum and atmosphere often places more emphasis on academic guidance and development. A boarding school for older students is more likely to adhere to a strict grading policy, with competitive, high-stakes assignments and academic honors. For younger students who may still be learning good study skills and what techniques work for them, a junior boarding school’s programs will often offer different educational strategies, learning partners, and academic counseling sessions. This way, students at junior boarding schools can learn the study skills they may need if they go on to more competitive boarding schools or prep schools for older students.

To complement this more nurturing approach to academics, junior boarding schools will often include programs focused on healthy eating, wellness strategies, and guidance for learning important life skills. Mealtimes are often served family-style, and monitored by table staff to ensure students have access to an adult at all times. Extracurricular clubs run the gamut from ordinary dramatic arts or science club to more unique offerings such as martial arts, sculpture, or even music instruction.

Boarding Schools - An Evolution

Boarding Schools - An Evolution

The tradition of sending children or teenagers away from home to be educated at a boarding school is a long one, dating back to medieval Europe. Families from the common or peasant class would, if they could afford it, send their sons to be educated by literate clergy members, in the hopes that, having gained the ability to read and write, their sons could grow up to become more than just servants and hand-to-mouth farmers. For families of a more military persuasion, sons were often sent to be educated by accomplished knights who could train them in the arts and battle and horsemanship.

Gradually, more formalized institutions of higher education began to emerge in Europe, the oldest of these being the King’s School in Canterbury, founded in AD 597. Schools of this era greatly valued the study of holy texts, emphasizing godliness above all other virtues to be gained by education. Students were taught calligraphy, and tasked with copying out ancient documents, longhand.
In the United States, education has long been organized around the agricultural calendar. In colonial days, children would attend “field schools” in wintertime, when farm work was less demanding. Soon, population centers and small cities began to organize Latin Grammar Schools, educational institutions that loosely resemble boarding schools present today. These were very strict, formal schools that emphasized the study of classical texts written in Latin and Greek. Graduates of such a school were expected to pursue a future in the clergy, or in teaching.

Soon, as towns and villages became more organized, educated individuals in the community began taking it upon themselves to establish small schools to serve the local populace. English Grammar Schools—more practical and less formal than Latin Grammar Schools—began popping up wherever teachers could be found. These schools focused on preparing students for democratic citizenship, and taught mathematics, English, grammar, geography, rhetoric, and accounting, among others.
Gradually, this very scattershot system of education gave way to more organized, well-endowed academies, which combined the high-minded educational goals of the Latin Grammar Schools with the practicality of English Grammar Schools. Students were usually housed with faculty members or trustees, and expected to live near campus during the entire academic year. In this way, each student would benefit from not only the academic influence of their studies, but from the moral guidance of their teachers and the academy community. This philosophy still resides at the heart of many modern boarding schools.

Even as the public education movement has taken off in the United States, boarding schools have persisted as a private option for parents seeking a way to get their offspring into a more positive, nurturing environment. In addition to academic instruction provided by impassioned instructors, boarding schools can provide students with new conflict resolution skills as they make their way on campus, living more independently and cohabitating with a stranger for the first time in their life. For some students, this is just the sort of new challenge they need to truly blossom as engaged learners and responsible young men and women.

Alternative Boarding Schools

A Boarding School is an academically, accredited school where students live on-campus throughout a school year along with other teachers and staff. Typically, students in these environments have better access to resources, technology and instruction. Learning in a boarding school environment is often times more meaningful and productive. In addition to the traditional boarding school, there are three primary types of alternative boarding schools that are recognized in the education world: college-preparatory boarding schools, junior boarding schools and therapeutic boarding schools.

College-preparatory boarding schools main functions are to prepare students for college life and to assist in the transition to from primary education to secondary education. Within the realm of college preparatory schools there are many specialized categories that include: Christian boarding schools, all boys or girls boarding schools, military boarding schools and arts boarding schools.

Junior boarding schools typically accommodate students that range in grades k-8. It is a great alternative to the public school setting and is a good option for parents wanting to provide their child with a much more enhanced learning opportunity. These schools are private, and costs range between $40,000.00 - $55,000.00 per year. However, most of these schools do not have the resources or focus to adequately address students with emotional issues, behavioral problems and learning disabilities.

Therapeutic Boarding Schools are the best alternative to traditional boarding schools and generally accommodate students between the ages of 12-18.  These schools are generally designated as special purpose schools whose primary focuses are more tailored to behavioral/emotional growth; working with students with learning disabilities and other mental disorders; and with adolescents who suffer from substance abuse.  These schools range in cost from $200.00 -$700.00 per day.  Often times, boarding schools require a minimum commitment of 12-18 months as the process of changing one’s life is an arduous task that requires a team of highly trained professionals.  One such, therapeutic boarding school that has evolved into a premier school for teens who are struggling in life, is Turning Winds Academic Institute (TWAI).  TWAI has been around for over ten years and has assisted thousands of parents and professionals of troubled teens to provide a meaningful treatment experience and successful outcomes.  For more information on how this effective, therapeutic school may be able to assist you in the process of determining whether this will be a good fit for your son or daughter, please call:  800-845-1380.