There is a difference between legitimate boarding schools (or "finishing schools" as they are sometimes called) and boot camps for troubled teens. Often the staff at the boot camps has little or no training or interest in working with children. Kids at boot camps often report being bullied by peers and physically and verbally assaulted by staff. Some have been forced to exercise so intensely that they black out. There have even been a few deaths. Most parents are pretty desperate by the time they try the boot camp option, and feel as if they have to do something drastic, but abusing children is not a good way to discourage negative behavior.

I did my high school in a military academy, and it helped me in many ways. That said, often by the time that parents consider "boot-camp" schools these days, it's too late.
I am in favor of almost anything that gets a kid out of the public school system, however, as the only thing a child learns there is how to fight, how to pick locks, and how to cut and distribute drugs.
Home school can be an option.
Mark Twain said: "First, God created idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards."

It would depend on the reason. In many European countries, sending children to boarding school is a family or cultural tradition. (One aspect of the Harry Potter books that goes unrecognized by Americans is the degree to which they are a take-off on the English genre of boarding school stories.) Sometimes boarding school is practical because parents live in an area where public schools are unavailable or poor in quality. Sometimes if both parents are professionals with busy lives, sending children to school is a better option.

But yes, there are parents who send children off to school basically to get rid of them. There are some divorced parents who probably should send their kids to boarding school and don't.

It's one option among many.

I think some kids need that extra boot, pardon the pun. If the parents have tried all ends to no avail then a boot camp may be one opportunity for the child to be straightened out. If the boot camp is the first choice, and the parents simply are not wanting to take on the challenge of raising a kid, then I think the boot camp will be ineffective because love should be a large part of the rearing process. Going directly to boot camp will not have that 'love' part instilled beforehand.

When I hear boarding schools mentioned, I always think of the things I have read about Prince Charles. He has made it public knowledge that he was extremely lonely at boarding school and that he despised the time he spent there.

I have also read that when Charles came home for a visit at a very young age, he and his mother, Queen Elizabeth II would shake hands as opposed to hugging.

This left me with a somewhat "cold" feeling about boarding schools.

Thanks for the question. Keep up the good work!

Boarding schools are where wealthy people send their children. It may be due to a family tradition or it may be because parents do not want the child around. Boot camps are places where some parents send their kids when they cannot deal with them anymore. The kids I saw on television who went to boot camp were intolerable. They cursed and were violent.

If wealthy people want to send their children to boarding school, that is their business. The only thing I would worry about is alienation from the parents and bullying at the school from other students. If I were wealthy and wished my kids to go to boarding schools, I would investigate the schools, first.

As for boot camp, that would be a place of last resort. I want to think that if I had had kids, they never would have had to go to boot camp. If a parent has to send them there, then, they must be in a very bad situation. All I can add is these places can be dangerous because there have been deaths at these so-called schools. One has to be very careful and investigate before sending them to boot camps.

Parenting is the single most honorable and important job we can have and for most parents, it's a tremendous gift. That child you bring into this world becomes your deepest responsibility and your most beloved relationship and most parents cherish their time with their children. But ironically, the time we actually get to spend raising these children is relatively short compared to the rest of their lives. Most head off to college at 18 and by their early 20s they're off on their own. This is the natural order of things, certainly, but what you realize as a parent is how precious those short 18 or so years are. They formulate the basis and quality of your relationship with your child for the rest of their lives and they are the all-too-brief window of opportunity to have this person close and part of your day-to-day life.

So I question why anyone would want to ship their child off to boarding school or a boot camp under any circumstances other than extreme need. Boot camp is typically for the troubled child, utilized when the parents have run out of options and the child desperately needs some tough love. But other than that extreme example, I can think of no other reason to take that step.

Boarding schools are typically considered for reasons other than extreme behavioral problems: an ivy league education, a higher level of discipline, family tradition, etc. and to that I ask, ARE YOU KIDDING!?

Your child will be your child for such a short period of time - why would you shorten it? And have you considered the affect this will have on your child? The warmth and love they get from the functional family environment is essential to their sense of well-being. Unless there is abuse, addiction or massive dysfunction in the home, what child wants to be shuttled off to a dorm room in a school far from home and away from the day to day contact with siblings, parents and friends? My guess would be, none.

Parents who send their children to boarding school for no essential reason seem to abdicating their role in parenting their high school age child. What a loss. Regardless of how much your teenager may act like they don't need you, they actually need you now more than ever. Life is rapidly changing during those years; questions about sexuality, relationships, the future, college, all loom large and teenage children rely on their parents' wisdom and experience far more than they may indicate. It's important during these years to form a cohesive family environment to give them security, stability and a loving place to find sanctuary and wise answers to their many questions. They'll be gone soon enough, why waste these precious years before college when good, solid bonding can occur?

When it's all said and done, the years of child-raising fly by so quickly it'll take your breath away. Cherish the time, keep them at a local school until the inevitable departure for college. Except in the most rarified of situations, they - and you - will benefit from it.