In reply to aln:
I read something interesting about how children can sometimes turn out after having gone to boarding school, and the different personae they can adopt as a means of defence, in appearing to be cheerfully bumbling as a way of deflecting criticism, or of seeming very capable and in charge, but how in the long run it doesn't do them any good because they can struggle to develop in other areas and end up more rounded as personalities, leaving them at a disadvantage when in the adult world, in not always being the best at colaborating with other people, or relating to them. Boris sometimes makes me think of somebody with a bumbling personae who possibly isn't best suited to the intricacies of adulthood & relating to others.
To head off any accusations of inverted snobbery, maybe I should add that my parents took out loans when I was a kid to send an older brother to a boarding music college, and while it definitely did his music good, in the short term at least I thought I could see ways in which he'd evolved within the confines of the boarding school, which (at times) weren't best suited to wider adult life in general, thankfully those quirks seem to have worked their way out of him now, perhaps helped by him not having gone there until he was in secondary school. The experiences of others may vary.
I don't think it's at all fair that the kind of musical education he got isn't available at most state schools, but that's for another thread.
Post edited at 00:12
