For most people, boarding schools conjure up memories of young men dressed in navy blazers with white shirts and ties heading to a beautiful school with ivy-covered walls and the game of polo playing in the distance. Oh, and don't forget the thoughts of parents with fat wallets and a family trust fund. This is what Gordon Vink, director of admissions at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania, calls the "Holden Caufield-Catcher in the Rye syndrome" (Parker111), a book about the problems a boy faces at his prep school. TRUE. Prep schools offer a college-like atmosphere, have strict rules, and often teach generations of students from the same families. The simplest definition of a boarding school is a place where parents pay for a student to live and go to school. The school's teachers, coaches, and administrators live in dormitories with boarders and act like their family by enforcing strict rules, making disciplinary decisions, and monitoring behavior and academic performance. Boarding schools can be one or all of the following: an academic boot camp, a place for parents to take in children they don't want or don't have time for, a shelter against the deterioration of public schools, a necessary diploma for the children of the rich and famous, or a training ground for tomorrow's leaders. These schools range from small, unknown institutions that will accept anyone, to elite schools, which are highly selective and a pipeline to Ivy League schools and success. Boarding schools are superior to public day schools. Proponents of preparatory boarding schools claim that the schools offer unparalleled discipline, a stronger curriculum, excellent facilities, a pathway to better colleges, a superior learning environment, astounding extracurricular options, and allow students to achieve a higher level of performance. Opponents argue that the astronomical cost, between $8,000 and $25,000 a year for the top elite, is too high. They also claim that the rules are too extreme and stifling, and that students are under a lot of stress. The main argument against boarding schools is cost. With an average cost of $8,000 to $25,000 (Topolnicki 100), many parents wonder: are private boarding schools worth it? ??