How Residential School Prepared Gladys Cook For Life

How residential school prepared Gladys Cook for life Document type: Essay By: Vera Osaretin For: ‘Professor’s name’ November 28, 2019The following document is an essay discussion on whether or not residential schools are contributing to preparing children for their practical lives by examining the Gladys Cook’s experience of a residential school. Residential schools, also otherwise known as a boarding school, is a place where children live in an institution and get an education. Most of the children who are admitted to a boarding school, start from a young age and are allowed to visit their families on seasonal holidays. The children are taken care of and provided with all the necessities. Like every child she had some good and bad memories from her childhood school she describes as, ‘It was an evil place and it was a beautiful place’. Residential schools are very well known for their discipline and excellent training provided to students. For most of the students, residential schools play a great role in their character building, as they have a remarkable staff with trained teachers present throughout the day, that in short, offers amazing academic preparation. When children live together, they form a family outside of their original family, and this helps them form long-lasting friendships. The boarding school promotes greater responsibility and the student becomes a more mature. The atmosphere of a residential school also helps build a positive educational atmosphere around a child that can help him concentrate more on his/her studies without any distractions. The atmosphere of a residential school also helps build self-confidence for a child by living away from family and loved ones, all on their own. These minors learn to tackle crises situations, all on their own. 

 On the other side, Residential schools are also well known for their unfair ways of treating children, that include physical and sexual abuse. Over the years, so many children have become a victim of such mistreatments and have been silenced due to the lack of contact with their loved ones. Children living at a boarding school, get detached from their families and become more like guests. Most of the adults, who have studied from a boarding school, have bad memories from their childhood of missing their loved ones and being mistreated. Moreover, residential schools are closed places and the children are not allowed to leave the campus. This creates boredom and takes the joy of childhood away, because the freedom goes away and a list of rules have to be followed. Residential schools mostly focus on just basic studies. The students who have an interest in creative fields are just ignored and their potential is wasted. Children do not get to experiment or experience new things in life. Residential schools can be beautiful places with loving memories for some children and hell-holes for others. Whether or not a residential school prepares a child for the future, cannot be determined since it differs from child to child and the differences of interests. Gladys Cook had a childhood where she studied from a residential school. She was forced to leave her house and move to a place where she was treated badly. Her braids were cut off and things that had sentimental value were taken away from her. She faced physical and verbal abuse. The video shows how the memories from her childhood still haunt her and have left a profound stain. Her experiences from the residential school made her the person she became, the hardworking, strong woman that didn’t need anyone by her side. The discipline and education she gained from the school, aided her to construct her life again after the tough times. Because she lived there, she knew how to handle crises situations on her own but, some memories had caused a strong negative impact on her. All the times she missed her loved ones and the holidays spent without them, could not be forgotten. Her past made her into a beautiful person and turned her towards helping others, suffering all around the world. Her strong spirit is what prepared her for life. The residential school did give her an experience that she’ll never forget, but she herself stood and prepared herself for life.

Bibliography

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