Public schools

Although income and occupation are important elements, British class distinctions also depend heavily upon other considerations: education, tradition, behaviour, manner of living and even accent.

In the past, people have generally been divided into those who are “gentlemen” and those who are not. The gentlemen are not identical with the nobility although they include it.

The public school system is valued because it produces leaders, it is a separate system of education for the rich. The English gentleman in the conventional sense is mainly the product of his public school. Those who have been educated at one of the good public schools are set apart from those who have not. In such schools the traditional aim is to develop “gentlemen” who are disciplined, loyal and decent, who “play the game”, bear pain and discomfort with a “stiff upper lip” and know how to use authority and how to get respect from those they rule. In public schools which follow the inherited pattern, older boys, known as prefects, rule over their younger fellows. Participation in sports is considered of great importance, though the emphasis on sports is not as great now as it used to be. Religion holds an important place in school life. But the teaching of the classics, though still important, is no longer the chief education concern.

The public school system has often been criticized for its lack of democracy and for its tendency to consider intellect less important than good sportsmanship and the acceptance of the traditional code of behaviour. But many Englishmen and many people in the English* speaking world admire the type of citizen which these schools produce.

Though limited in number (about 500) the public schools are the largest and most important of the independent (private) schools. They accept pupils at about 12 or 13 years of age usually on the basis of a strict selection. They are fee-paying and very expensive, their standards for entries are very high. Most of them are boys’ boarding schools, although some are day schools and some are for girls. A few have even become coeducational. Most public schools were founded in Victorian times, but many of them are several hundred years old. The nine most ancient and aristocratic remain among the most important public schools: Eton (1440), Harrow (1571), Winchester (1382), Westminster (1560), St. Paul’s (1509), Merchant Taylor’s (1561), Rugby (1567), Charter House (1611) and Shrewsbury (1552).

The oldest of the public schools were founded to give free education to clever boys whose parents could not afford to educate them privately. They were under “public” management and control. Originally they depended mainly on grants by noble founders and wealthy donors. They were intended to put education within the reach of anyone intelligent enough to take advantage of it, whether their parents were rich or poor. Today these schools and similar ones founded within the past 150 years, are the most expensive of the independent schools in Britain and depend almost entirely on the fees paid by their pupils’ parents. So, it is clear from this definition that public schools are now not public in the usual sense of the word.

The public schools are mostly boarding schools, where the pupils live and study, though many of them also take some day-pupils. Most of them have a few places for pupils whose fees are paid by a local authority, but normally entrance is by examination, and state schools (which are free) do not prepare children for this. So parents who wish to send their children to a public school often send them first to a preparatory (prep) school. A preparatory school is an independent school for children aged 8 to 13, whom it prepares for the public schools. At 13 pupils take the Common Examination for Entrance to Public Schools, or simply Common Entrance exam (Common is used because the examination is set jointly by the main public schools and is common to all). Nearly all preparatory schools are for boys and many of them are boarding schools.

Nowadays the public schools are less obsessed by team-spirit and character-building, they are more concerned with examinations and universities, especially Oxford and Cambridge. But they still give their pupils a very special sense of their mission and confidence.

On the whole, the public school boys are sons of people who have a substantial social position, very good homes and the benefits of prosperity. So the public schools tend to hand over social and economic power and privilege from one generation to the next. For instance, two- thirds of Eton’s pupils are sons of former Etonians. This makes it more than any other school a hereditary club for the rich and influential. However, it may be pointed out that many boys of public schools are the sons of men who were not themselves educated at public schools, or men who are by no means rich.

Less than one per cent of British children go to public schools, yet these schools have produced over the centuries many of Britain’s most distinguished people. So parents who can afford it still pay thousands of pounds to have their children educated at a public school.

The major public schools in the narrow sense are peculiar to Britain, and especially to the southern half of England, where most of them are situated. More than any other part of the educational system, they distinguished Britain from other countries. Although few parents send their children to them for religious reasons, these schools have their own chapels, where their chaplains or headmasters conduct services according to the prescriptions of the foundation. Some of them are Catholic, but most are Church of England.

Many public schools have had a profound influence on English social attitudes. By their nature and existence they have emphasised a sense of class division. Although less than 2 per cent of all men have been educated in such schools, these include most high court judges, directors of banks and insurance companies and Conservative members of Parliament. Contacts made at school may open the way to good jobs.

One of these schools, Eton, is perhaps, better known by name outside its own country than any other school in the world. It was founded by King Henry VI in 1440 and is located near Windsor Castle. About twenty Prime Ministers of Great Britain have passed through Eton. More than half of all peers who have inherited their titles are old Etonians. Eton, with its 700 pupils, is like the other public schools in many ways, but has its special customs. Boys still dress every day for class in morning suits.

Most public schools are in small towns or villages and have about 700 pupils. They have been much concerned to develop in their pupils a strong sense of duty, obedience combined with ability to exercise authority and a habit of suppressing private feelings. Loyalty to group had been encouraged by the system under which a school would be divided into about ten “houses” (each having around 70 boys), with selected older boys as prefects (monitors). Until quite recently the prefects imposed a strict discipline, often with brutal punishments. Good sportsmen (rugby and football players) have great prestige and reputation. The system of the houses gives pupils more scope to follow their own interests and more privacy.

The schools have shown skills in adapting themselves to new values, with more attention to music and the arts as well as academic work as distinct from team games. Many of their teachers, who are mostly male and called “masters”, stay at the same school all through their working lives, and do not count their hours of work. Public schools have small classes and high standards.

Some time ago it was claimed by Labour party supporters that the public schools would die a natural death. But in the 1980s most independent schools of all types, including public, had more applicants for admission than before. This was caused by the poor reputation of the state comprehensive schools, and by the huge growth in the incomes of the highly-paid people. Public schools were more firmly established than ever.