Boarding schools are privately run institutions. Students typically are far enough from home that they need to live in an on-campus residence hall. These schools can be as expensive as colleges, making it impossible for most families to afford tuition. Therefore, usually only students from very wealthy families are able to attend boarding schools.
Boarding school students are away from home for long periods of time. Therefore they do not form the same relationships with their parents, siblings, grandparents and other members of their extended family that other children do. To make up for the lack of close relationships with their immediate family, these students have to form strong bonds with their classmates and teachers.
When a child lives with his parents, they typically focus a great deal of attention on him and work to resolve any issues the child may have. Boarding school students do not have a hands-on parent close at hand to help resolve any emotional or behavioral issues. The boarding school staff is responsible for many students and cannot put the same individual focus on a child that parents can. Therefore, if a student in boarding school has behavior problems, he likely will be punished instead of having someone explore the root of the problem.
Because parents can't watch over their children at boarding school, these students tend to have less supervision than most people of their age. There may be no one around at night to make sure they are doing their homework or to make sure they aren't getting into trouble, such as drinking alcohol or sneaking out at night.