Customer Reviews

Preparing For Power: America's Elite Boarding Schools

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book provides an interesting glimpse into the lives of students, teachers, and administrators of elite boarding schools. It describes the costs and benefits to students (and teachers) of an elite boarding school education, and how this "rite of passage" encourages the idea among students that their advantages are earned. It also describes how elite students are socialized for power; and how their social contacts and schools help them gain acceptance to the best colleges and, later, into the best jobs, with the full complicity of the college admissions officers. This is an easy-to-read, well-researched, and interesting book. My only complaint is that it is too short!

I am person, from the lower-middle class, who went to public school, state universities for my B.S. and my Masters. When I read this book and the book, of The Art of Getting Things Done by Richard Brislin, several years ago, I began to understand the political deftness and self-confidence of people I meet who came from well to do families. From birth, they model the lives of their parents who are highly paid professinals in professional service firms like law or accounting or high-powered exectives in Fortune 500 corporations. As both books point out, then through have these behaviors ingrained until adolescence, where then private education's honing influnce takes shape. The practice of self-government of the schools by the students, a ruthless ethos of performance and results of making the grade, practicing behaviors that are the signals of leadership are honed in the classroom's demanding education and the politcally charged enviornment outside the classroom. It was a huge "AHA" momement about myself. For example politicians, John Kerry and George Bush both went to the same private school. Barrack Obamas went to private schools in Hawii paid for by his grandparents. I better understand my limitations and constraints and why I have hit certain ceilings in my life. The system does reach down and pull in the highly intelligent and promising candidates from the outside to bring in new blood. However, these are the extreme outliers on the bell curve. Throughout history, the rich and powerful have been sought to pass on to their offspring these mindsets and behaviors.

I enjoyed the anthropological-based approach of this book. The methods and collection of material seemed appropriate and balanced. It also kept my attention with great quotes and inside opinions. A must read for anyone interested in the prep-school experience - just remember that the material is a bit out of date.

As interesting as some of the things said in the book are, with a publishing date of 1989 I couldn't help wondering how much of the information still applied.
Tuition prices, for one thing, are certainly no longer accurate; many of the schools discussed have gone from single-sex to co-ed; some schools no longer exist.
A book like this has a definite shelf life, and I wish I had looked at its date of issue more carefully.

I read this book for a class of mine on education. I had never really known much about boarding schools until this book. It is a readable and accessible account of boarding schools; although, this book is slightly out of date as the information was from the 80's. The income and tuitions numbers are completely off by today's standards. Other than that, for us who have gone through public schools and any non-elite schools, it is a glimpse into the world of the elite education. My instructor did e-mail one of the authors, Cookson, and learned more about his background. He was not from any elite boarding school, where Persell did attend a boarding school. Interesting, is that these types of schools produce such outstanding alumni and yet no one really knows about them. I'm sure the information is getting out of date; the copy I had had yellowed pages and was printed in 1985. Yet, it is still interesting for people interesting in educational differences and opportunities. Or just very curious people.

"Democracy is supposed to begin at the schoolhouse door. One has to be blinded by this glowing image of equality, however, not to see that private [boarding] schools, in general, represent an elite alternative to the public educational system in much the same way that private cars are alternatives to public transportation."

Even though this book was published in 1985, most of the research and analysis of the elite schools still apply today. The different types of boarding schools across the United States are illuminating. Take the time to know the differences.

There is the impression that boarding schools are for delinquents, second-rated and spoiled children. Positively, not the case. Children entering their teenage years must be mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually disciplined for an entirely new experience away from home; or get suspended or expelled quickly.

The book gives a fair review about how several public schools are even producing a growing number of eligible candidates for the Ivy League schools, although in many ways, the authors believe they still remain at a significant disadvantage.

Although attending a private boarding school is no guarantee for admittance to Harvard, it certainly does provide a "booster shot" for incredible success. Every parent should read this book.

For example, Portsmouth Abbey School is located near Newport, Rhode Island. Considerations included: 1) children leaving the nest early; 2) a safe, but not necessarily comfortable learning environment; 3) equality between the boys and girls; 4) the ability of the children to seize opportunities; and get 5) access / exposure to all the information / people / network in the World.

Plan accordingly while your child is in kindergarten. Discover how America's elite are bred.

great book, although dated (80's), lots of info, stats, and gives a good feeling to what life is like in and out of the elite boarding schools.

This book is a tad out-dated, being based upon research that is now almost thirty years old. Still, the basic precepts of the authors stand as true now as they did in the 1980s. For anyone who has had contact with the strange and wonderful world of boarding school culture, this book must read like a report out of one's own experience. I cannot think of one chapter of the book that rings untrue or exaggerated. I hesitate to give it five stars, simply because the information examined is a bit old, especially in light of some schools turning co-ed, etc. But it is an exemplary study: well-written, insightful and understanding.

I do not think the authors criticize the boarding school way of life as much as examine it. They point out the basic and real unfairness of the relationship between boarding school life and life in the world of business and law, but that is the reality. They also point out that boarding schools can function as real springboards into a successful career for children of the non-wealthy who do manage, by hook or crook, to smuggle themselves onto the campus of a well-thought-of boarding school.

One critical note, however, regarding grades: grade inflation is as rampant on boarding school campuses as it is everywhere. I suppose it is the "Lake-Woebegone-Effect." No one graduates with D+ averages anymore unless they are total academic disasters. Also, the minority presence on any boarding school campus worth its salt is considerably higher these days. The schools are not so much the bastion of white privilege that they once were; they are still the bastion of privilege, but they are much more representative of racial distributions in America than they once were.

I think this book deserves to be right up there with anything Diane Ravitch has written about American high schools. It is an important account of a small but critically important educational institution in America.

I enjoyed this book but I felt like I was reading a history book. I wish the authors would update it to reflect the current situation. One list of the "most prestigious schools" dated to 1956, 50 years ago!