A Long History of Boarding Schools

Most parents pay close attention to their children's education because, with good preparation and close supervision, the children will have a better chance of success later in life. Today, most parents, when thinking of education abroad, will primarily focus on countries where English is the native language, such as the USA, UK, Australia, and New Zealand. However, very few Thai people know that Switzerland has a long history of boarding school tradition where European aristocrats and successful industrialists and entrepreneurs have been sending their children for over a century.

 

Particularly, the British were attracted to Lake Geneva and felt comfortable leaving their children to get a well-rounded education and good basic knowledge of French. At the time, an educated English gentleman was expected to have good knowledge of French. This is why most schools are located in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Only later did more boarding schools appear in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, allowing students to learn German as their additional language.

 

In addition, because of Switzerland's neutrality, the country has become a safe haven for many well-to-do families that wanted their children to continue their education away from their own war-torn countries, such as during World War I and II.

 

The Swiss boarding schools became flexible in terms of curriculum, such as offering the UK's A-level system, American AP exams, Swiss Maturité and French Baccalaureate. The IB (or International Baccalaureate) which was first developed in Geneva in the late 1960s was soon universally adopted by most of Swiss boarding schools.

 

My Long Lasting Experience in a Leading Swiss Boarding School

I have been fortunate to spend 7 years in Switzerland during most middle and high school years in a leading boarding school. My son also spent 4 years attending the same school as me. The education has prepared my son and me well to support our higher studies in the US at 2 of the Ivy League institutions (Cornell University for an undergrad and the University of Pennsylvania for a grad degree.)

 

With such personal experience, I can recommend almost half a dozen Swiss boarding schools to Thai parents. I am certain they are interested in learning more about how a Swiss boarding school experience can benefit a Thai student. No one school is the same; therefore, it is vital to make the right decision for them to match the right program to each child's interest: whether it is about curriculum choice, i.e., A-level vs. IB, language acquisition, i.e., German or French, location i.e. towns vs mountains and the preferred sports, i.e., emphasis on winter sports?