Mungeh Ndzi
Fig 1. 19th Century photo of young boarding students of Sunningdale School standing for a sports team photo.
Fig 2. Boarding students reading in their dorms.A Slight Detachment: Deconstructing the Effects of Boarding School on the Young Mind
A home is a place of solitude and a place of rest. The home provides both the individual and the family with satisfaction. As the primary host of this space, a family gains satisfaction with the common familiarity shared within a space. As a group, the family has dominion over the physical space. The sense of security derives from personalising the space, in its own way is a sign of identity. Security is affirmed by the defence of the space, which further stimulates satisfaction. Besides our physical bodies, the home demands the most effort in terms of personalising and defence. The home has a recognised code of ethics surrounding it. When your home is approached by a friend or visitor of any sort, it is polite to gain access through the means of knocking on the front door, ringing a bell, or using any other form of gaining the occupant's attention. (Douglas 1976) This first barrier of entry is so important as it brings someone to alert in some of our most vulnerable occasions. In the house we sleep, we groom, and we find our deepest intimacies, which in itself distract us from the outside world and intruders. Within a house, we also find areas of further individualisation; bedrooms, studies, offices, and other spaces of that nature that reflect the inhabitant.
For the purpose of this section, I shall be predominantly evaluating a shared space such as a dormitory, in comparison to a bedroom with one occupant. Understandably, in some family homes, the privilege of having your own room is not realistic. However, as the topic of discussion is boarding students and the spaces they occupy, we will assume that broadly these subjects may have the liberty of occupying a room of their own in their family homes. Boarding schools on average demand a large sum in terms of school fees. Thus, that is where this assessment shall be made, predominantly looking at a bedroom with one occupant and considering boarding students that share a bedroom at home as anomalies.
A bedroom is at the centrepiece of our domain, a place of solace and warmth, a bedroom encapsulates an identity, whilst providing shelter and multiple applications. A bedroom gives us the liberty to decompress from a long day and forget about anything that may be bothering us. When we compare this space to that of a dormitory, a pupil may not have the space and peace of mind to relax especially if the source of unease shares the same living space. It is not uncommon for classmates to get into conflict with one another, little squabbles and mishaps are hard to avoid when you put people together. The dormitory which should be a place for rest now becomes another site for potential conflict. As discussed earlier in this passage I have been to boarding school.
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[1] J. Douglas Porteous, Home: The Territorial Core
A home is a place of solitude and a place of rest. The home provides both the individual and the family with satisfaction. As the primary host of this space, a family gains satisfaction with the common familiarity shared within a space. As a group, the family has dominion over the physical space. The sense of security derives from personalising the space, in its own way is a sign of identity. Security is affirmed by the defence of the space, which further stimulates satisfaction. Besides our physical bodies, the home demands the most effort in terms of personalising and defence. The home has a recognised code of ethics surrounding it. When your home is approached by a friend or visitor of any sort, it is polite to gain access through the means of knocking on the front door, ringing a bell, or using any other form of gaining the occupant's attention. (Douglas 1976) This first barrier of entry is so important as it brings someone to alert in some of our most vulnerable occasions. In the house we sleep, we groom, and we find our deepest intimacies, which in itself distract us from the outside world and intruders. Within a house, we also find areas of further individualisation; bedrooms, studies, offices, and other spaces of that nature that reflect the inhabitant.
For the purpose of this section, I shall be predominantly evaluating a shared space such as a dormitory, in comparison to a bedroom with one occupant. Understandably, in some family homes, the privilege of having your own room is not realistic. However, as the topic of discussion is boarding students and the spaces they occupy, we will assume that broadly these subjects may have the liberty of occupying a room of their own in their family homes. Boarding schools on average demand a large sum in terms of school fees. Thus, that is where this assessment shall be made, predominantly looking at a bedroom with one occupant and considering boarding students that share a bedroom at home as anomalies.
A bedroom is at the centrepiece of our domain, a place of solace and warmth, a bedroom encapsulates an identity, whilst providing shelter and multiple applications. A bedroom gives us the liberty to decompress from a long day and forget about anything that may be bothering us. When we compare this space to that of a dormitory, a pupil may not have the space and peace of mind to relax especially if the source of unease shares the same living space. It is not uncommon for classmates to get into conflict with one another, little squabbles and mishaps are hard to avoid when you put people together. The dormitory which should be a place for rest now becomes another site for potential conflict. As discussed earlier in this passage I have been to boarding school.
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[1] J. Douglas Porteous, Home: The Territorial Core