MADE TO ORDER: HOW ENGLISH SOCIETY USES THE BOARDING SCHOOL SYSTEM TO FORM THE IDEAL BOY

Abstract

English society uses the British boarding school system as a means to mold children into proper adults. The boarding schools encourage virtues and ideas that society demands of adults and it shuns ideas that society dislikes. This system creates two types of students: those who successfully are reformed by the schools, and those who are unable to become what society demands of them. It is not that these students are not smart or do not show potential, but their inner identity does not comply with the outer identity that society wishes they would embody. By looking at a variety of British literature, both fiction and nonfiction, one can see how different characters are affected by the boarding school system. By comparing these characters, it becomes clear the various positive and negatives aspects of the boarding school system, but even beyond that, it displays the positives and negatives of English society.