Casualties of Privilege: Essays on Prep Schools' Hidden Culture [Paperback]

Louis M. Crosier (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1991

The book combines the perspective of seventeen graduates of prestigious New England prep schools. Each writer tells a personal story. Together the essays form a composite picture of the issues students encounter during their years at boarding school. Casualties of Privilege takes an insider's look at the issues which are beneath the surface of these privileged institutions. Existing work focuses on the superior quality of instruction, curricular offerings and facilities, the geographic and ethnic composition of students and faculty, and the differences between residential schools and their public counterparts. But there is more going on. The editor hopes this additional perspective on boarding life will enhance our understanding of the prep school system and encourage us to improve it.

Product Details

• Paperback: 153 pages
• Publisher: Avocus Publishing (March 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962767107
• ISBN-13: 978-0962767104
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #705,245 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A candid look at boarding school life..., March 31, 2000

By 

W. Paine "NOLA Dad" (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Casualties of Privilege: Essays on Prep Schools' Hidden Culture (Paperback)

Casualties of Privilege offers an inside look into some of the dark realities of our nations elite boarding schools. The essays, written by those who have witnessed or participated in the rituals they describe, offer a candid look at a side of the world that few of us ever get to see.

I read this book when I was considering the possibility of attending boarding school. At the time, I thought the essays in the book made boarding school look very intriguing. Had my parents seen the book, there is no way they would have even let me apply.

Overall a very good book, if an honest portrayal of boarding schools is what you're looking for. For those who may think the subject matter is controversial, open up your eyes and realize that these schools are no different than the rest of society.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What Boarding School Admissions Officers Don't Tell You, June 24, 2005

By 

TN Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Casualties of Privilege: Essays on Prep Schools' Hidden Culture (Paperback)

This book is a must-read for parents outside the boarding-school tradition who are considering boarding school for their children. The "hidden culture" which Crosier poignantly discusses refers primarily to life after the school day ends and before the next one begins. I read this book before my child began boarding school; and although it did not change our plans, it definitely prepared me for some of the problems that arose during my son's first year. Crosier discusses at some length the demands placed upon boarding school faculty, demands which result in an emphasis on the classroom and athletic fields and which shortchange the mentoring that students need when the school day ends. He recommends a separate evening faculty who are not too exhausted to serve as surrogate parents. While the cost of two sets of faculty would probably result in boarding school only for the most wealthy (and would necessarily exclude families like ours), students would have more of a home-away-from-home rather than being forced too often into situations they are not yet prepared to handle alone.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Shallow, December 31, 2002

By 

Diego Banducci (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Casualties of Privilege: Essays on Prep Schools' Hidden Culture (Paperback)

The basic premise underlying this book of essays written by former prep school students is that there is such a thing as a standard prep school experience. In fact, the term "prep school" has been adopted by so many different types of secondary schools as to have become meaningless.

Those common threads that do exist (loneliness, use of alcohol and drugs, sex, etc.) are really part of being an adolescent, and are not unique to prep school students, although the young authors of these essays would have us believe otherwise.

There is nothing in these essays that wasn't said better by J. D. Salinger in "The Catcher in the Rye." Read it instead.