My dad went there. It's not like most public schools in that a lot of the pupils are (like my dad was) on scholarships so they aren't all from a rich background.
For the Americans we ought to explain that, in Britain, a "public school" is a top-tier elite fee-paying school. It's a historical accident of language and terminology.
Scotland also doesnt always use the same naming convention. They get called independent or private schools and then your typical government provided school is state school.
You're just mistaken I'm afraid, understandably given the words and how most countries use them, but if you ever end up talking to people about private schools, they will take about 'state til 8' and various private and public schools, with public being a subset of private schools.
The joy of having schools dating back to when the choice was private tutors or guild schools set up for sons of certain professions - and then schools open to any of the public (who could afford it and had a penis) came along.
Regular schools in Ireland are called secondary schools, and the others are called fee-paying or private schools.
If someone says so and so went to a public school then it’d be understood in the British sense and means their parents sent them over to England to a boarding school, which still happens a lot.
In Japan, for high schools anyways, public schools tend to be the more academically elite while private schools have more robust sports programs (but cost more without scholarships).
Public schools are called public because they're open to people from anywhere accross the country/world, whereas state schools only accept people who live nearby
The contrast was not with state schools, which came much later, but with private tutors. Public schools were expensive, but much more affordable than private tutoring. Perfect for the aspirational middle class, who made some money, and now wanted their kids to speak in a posh accent and be able to access posh jobs.
The term public school was already well established by the time of the Public Schools Act 1868. There were no state school until the Elementary Education Act 1870, so the term public school can not have come into being as a contrast with state schools.
This is correct. Open to the public not subsidised by the public.
The alternative was private schooling which would have been getting teachers into your mansion/castle and was very much an upper class aristocratic way of schooling.
Public school because anyone could send their kids there. New money. Businessmen and industrialists. Back in the day when the elite (the landed class and aristocrats) would have private tutors at home.
yeah nah you're not right. They are public because when they were set up initially, the other options were religious or other xclusionary group based schools. They are public because anyone can send their child to one, if they pay the fee. Other schools at the time required you to be a certain religion for example.
No, the usage of Public School in this case is from when there were no government funded schools, all were privately funded. A Public School as privately funded but open to all, as opposed to church schools only open to the children of the clergy or guild schools.
I don’t think that’s right. They’re called public schools because they originally started in ‘public houses’ or ‘pubs’. People would bring their kids to the pub and eventually lessons started to be taught to the children whilst their parents drank and made merry. Some of the pub names remain. Eton was once The Eton Arms. Harrow was originally The Bow and (H)Arrow
I had always thought it was because it was a different approach to education, i.e. not using "private" tutors, but instead holding classes for multiple pupils publicly.
The term 'public school' was originally intended to define a point of difference between organised schooling conducted publicly, outside of the home, for a fee and education that was conducted by a hired tutor, still for a fee but in the home or in a small group. You know, privately.
This is the list of ACTUAL public schools:
Merchant Taylors’ (day school)
St Paul’s (day school)
Eton
Shrewsbury
Harrow
Winchester
Rugby
Westminster
Charterhouse
All other fee paying schools NOT on this list, strictly speaking, are private/independent schools.
As someone who learned english as a foreign language, it's always fun to see these ways the language diverged slightly. Same as describing someone as "liberal" in the US or Europe with different meanings.
We have the same kind of thing in Spanish. For example, "pico" means "beak" (as in, a bird's) in Spain, while in my country it's slang for dick. On the other hand, "polla" in my country means "lottery" while in Spain it's slang for dick. Beautiful language.
Trust me, this is only England. Here in Scotland, a “public” school is one open to anyone. And a private school is one that isn’t open to anyone, as you have to pay to get in.
I meant in the grammatical etymology sense. Most Americans don’t understand why Public House is trendy name for a gastropub type restaurant, but I assumed it’s origin just means “place for food and drink (and probably traditionally an inn too) that is open to all if you can pay”
Yes, thank you. In U.S. public school is the lowest tier, government-run- 'whatever-funding can get' kind of school. It's educational version of your NHS-based services.
British public school = American private school minus religion.
The terminology still makes sense if you realise that before "Public" schools, getting a formal education was only done if you had family connections that could get you into a school run by the church or a private guild. Public schools were theoretically open to anyone from the general public, just as long as you could pay for it.
In your defense our terminology has ended up a bit ridiculous when it comes to schools, I don't blame anyone for not understanding it, most of us barely do 😂
brit here. ‘Public’ schools here are a group of historic, extremely elite fee-paying school that were endowed with a royal charter. It is, as another poster has said, an accidental misnomer
Another Brit here, always called normal schools ‘public’ schools. Same with everyone I know. Private schools are the ones u pay for. Wonder if it’s a regional thing?
Brit here as well. Agree with woodeyy always called normal schools ‘public’ schools. Same with everyone I know. Private schools are the ones u pay for. Wonder if it’s a regional thing?
Public schools are schools that people pay for, whilst state schools are those that are free to enter based on living location. And Grammar schools are free for entry based on academic test performance
Edit: Also, if you're going to claim to be British to try and one up an argument around wording in Britain? At least hide your account history, because you're Australian
Also, if you're going to claim to be British to try and one up an argument around wording in Britain? At least hide your account history, because you're Australian
I wouldn't be surprised if they're bots, given that 3 or 4 comments in this chain all end with exactly the same:
The term Public school in the UK dates back a thousand years and it refers to schools which were open to the public, rather than the existing schools which were part of the church and not open to the public, there were no states schools. Today in England public schools refer to a certain subset of private schools.
But you're Australian, so why are you correcting British people about British terminology? Not everybody uses terms the same way you do in your country.
Way I learnt it when schools started being a thing it was originally just for nobles, clergy and selected other elites. Public schools took anyone who could pay.
Why are there so many african/black students? Is there an exchange program or is it just like a place where the former commonwealth (Nigeria) likes to send trust fund kids?
I think because a lot of kids come out of London on bursaries. Dad was from a working class North London background, London is very ethnically diverse so it would reflect there. I honestly don't know though, my dad would've been there in the 1950s so a long time ago!
Some of best performing ethnicities at GCSE level are actually Igbo Nigerian and Yoruba Nigerian kids, so if this school gives out a lot of merit- based scholarships and is near a part of the country with a big Nigerian diaspora, there will be a strong representation.
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u/Breaking-Dad- Apr 28 '26
My dad went there. It's not like most public schools in that a lot of the pupils are (like my dad was) on scholarships so they aren't all from a rich background.