Although limited contact between the opposite sex may serve as a blessing, the opposite may just be true. Leaving individuals in an environment that limits them to members of the same sex does not give them a realistic view of how the world really is. While it is true that being away from girls lessen the distractions in an all-boys school, friendships with girls are hardly established. Boys end up not knowing how to understand girls. Coping in a mixed environment such as in an office or business setting, therefore, becomes a problem for them in the long run.
The curricula in boarding schools are known to be quite rigid. Added to this, students are usually encouraged to engage in extra curricula activities during their free time, leaving less time for them to be by themselves. This leaves them with little or no room to relax. Time for self-assessment and self-realization is taken away from the individual making them less well-rounded and more robotic.
Preparatory schools tend to impose many rules for students to follow. Although this is meant to instill a sense of discipline in an individual, the individual is also devoid of breathing space and feels pressured to conform. This may result in the individual developing a tendency to rebel against the institution and even his peers or to go the opposite way and lose their sense of self. This may be due to the fact that students who are sent to boarding schools are at an age when they do tend to be very emotional, having a constant need for self-expression.
In many boys' boarding schools, a high degree of competition exists among peers. Because of that competition, acceptance is established based on the overall performance of the child in both academics and extracurricular activities. The more successful the child is the more accepted he becomes. The problem with this though is that different children may not necessarily excel in the same fields. One's talent may not necessarily be the others'. Acceptance should be based on what the child is and not on what he is capable of achieving.
It takes a family to raise an individual. Values are established in the home. Separating a boy from his family results in problems with family ties since the boy ends up spending more time in school. He therefore becomes emotionally distant. The individual spends very limited time with the family, possibly only during vacations. Hence, the family's influence is lessened and the student is left being a total stranger in what is supposed to be his normal environment; his family. This may, in the long run, result in a strained relationship between the parent and child.