Having gone to an all boys' boarding school for five years, there have been times when I have looked at my friends who moved from middle school to public high school with envy, but this hasn't always been the case. At least from my experience, boarding school has a bad wrap socially. I tell people I went to an all boys' boarding school for all of my high school career and their eyes seem to twinkle with a sort of patronizing stare. I am sure that some of the conceptions people have, stereotypes even, are correct, but I assure you that a lot of them are not. Here is a list of what I feel are the five advantages and five disadvantages of an all boys' boarding school.

The Advantages:

1. No Girls

I deem this an advantage, the concept's run is not over after this because let's face it, the opposite sex can be a major distraction. I never faced this in high school, only in middle school, but with the amount of hormones that were surging through me and my classmates even from public school, single-sex education certainly helped to reduce distraction.

2. Smaller Classes

This is perhaps the most important. I can't recall a class that had more than 15 students in the class. Smaller classes provide a better working atmosphere in which a student can ask questions and get personable answers to the question, allows for better bonds to form between a student and a teacher, and a more intimate social atmosphere. I knew everyone's name in my class, and we were collectively all friends. This concept extends past the educational and into the social.

3. Living alone

Most kids, by the time they have reached college, have lived only with their parents. I am not saying this is a bad thing, but kids who haven't lived on their own yet just have not faced some of the challenges that kids from boarding schools have. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, more cleaning -- the sense of responsibility is built in and by the time these kids reach college, they don't abuse the freedom because they are already used to it (believe me, I have seen some kids self-destruct under the freedom that college affords).

4. Classroom Friendships Equals Social friendships

I know this sounds far-fetched, I would never deny that kids from public school are able to translate their school friendships into their out-of-school friendships. But the reality is that boarding school gives no disconnect between school and social life in terms of friendships. When I went to boarding school, all of my social friends were also my classroom friendships. Playing indoor soccer on the weekend did not assume a different group of friends, I knew who would be there outside of school to do things with me.

5. Learning How To Dress

For almost the entirety of my boarding school experience, I wore a suit. And this isn't to condescend, it's fine if you only have one suit, but it really helps in life to know how to look good. My English teacher taught me that the first thing someone judges in terms of appearance is clothing, and boy was he right. My boarding school experience taught me to dress correctly, which is necessarily a must-have, but it seriously helps to have it.

The Disadvantages

1. No Girls

A major high school experience is your interaction with the opposite sex; something that is minimized for kids who go to single-sex schools. This disconnection from the opposite sex is actually rather harmful: false conceptions and stereotypes can be created, and once the pupil is out in college or past, he or she may have some catching up to do socially. There are mixers, and sister / brother schools, but still the experience is minimized.

2. Routine

This might have just been my school, but boarding school seems to destroy the sense of freedom that a lot of public school students have. Once I was done my classes, I had to get ready for sports, after sports were dinner, then piano practice, then finally, sleep. Routine can be a great thing, but let me tell you, sometimes it can be utter hell.

3. Away From Family

This wasn't so bad for me, as I lived 30 minutes away from home and went there on the weekends. However, some kids only go home once a year to boarding school. Whether they like it or not, they are missing some quality time with their parents and family that public school can certainly afford to students. I have seen this be very detrimental to students, but also very helpful to them. Nonetheless, you are bound to miss some things being away from home for so long.

4. Curriculum

At my school, we have about 11 A.P. courses from which students could bolster their intellect, GPA and college application. And I get the sense that this wasn't unreasonably small for boarding school. The fact is with fewer students, therefore, fewer teachers, and independently funded curriculum, boarding school and maybe even private schools, in general, are bound to have less of a variety of courses. I really wanted to take A.P. psychology! Oh, well.

5. Demographics

This certainly did not apply to my school, one of the most diverse in the nation, but schools around it were full of white people. This happens to public school students too, and it is a general shame, but for boarding school there is a major pattern. Most of the schools are extremely homogeneous in terms of class, let alone race.

So there you have it. This obviously is not a list of all of the advantages and disadvantages of single-sex boarding school, but it is, what I feel from my five-year experience at one, the most important advantages and disadvantages.