What do you think of the authors representation of boarding school culture? Is it similar to any personal experiences you may have had?

What do you think of the author's representation of the boarding school culture at Lancaster? Is it similar to any personal experiences you may have had at boarding school?

I never went to boarding school, but had friends who did and I did go to a private day school. I believe the author got it right. The school tends to develop a sub-culture which seeks to maintain the status quo at all costs. Tradition becomes the gold standard, not innovation or progress. Arthur needs to succeed his father as Headmaster and his son needs to succeed him. It is the right order of things. The tradition. It is what keeps the fabric of the school society together. Once this begins to unravel, so too does Arthur's sanity.

Sandeo expressed it well. I did not have the boarding school experience but graduated from a university bound in a long tradition populated by many students who were from this culture. I think the author was right on track with his depiction of the school culture.

I did not go to boarding school, but I believe the author described it well. It becomes like a small town, where everyone knows everyone else, and has an opinion about how they should live their lives. Certain behaviors are expected and if things go wrong, little forgiveness is shown.

Thankfully I've never experienced anything like an eastern boarding school. However I feel that clinging to the status quo can exist and rule almost any school, company, or organization.

I have no personal experiences with boarding schools, but I was surprised at how much freedom the students seemed to have at the high school level. I would expect it to be much harder for a student to sneak around with a professor, let alone the headmaster, than it was portrayed in the book.

I didn't go to boarding school either, so getting a glimpse through The Headmaster's Wife was eye-opening. It was easy to forget that these students were high schoolers, not college undergrads. The structure of everything - only having 30 mins of co-ed free time, mandatory attendance at dinner, etc - was pretty surprising. I also found it very unfair that students who came from privileged households got preferential treatment. It sounds naive I'm sure, but you would think that a school like Lancaster would try to teach honesty and integrity! Poor Russell. No wonder he didn't fit in.

His representation of the culture was true to form. A member of my family attended a private day school in New England. Based upon his experiences, I would say that the author realistically captured aspects of this educational experience.