Eton College apologises after allegations pupils jeered visiting state schoolgirls

[sunnydaytoday0]

If true, why has no one been expelled?

www.theguardian.com/education/2022/nov/18/eton-college-apologises-after-allegations-pupils-jeered-visiting-state-schoolgirls

Private school sanctions a number of boys after investigation into misogynistic language and racial slurs.

Eton College has apologised and “sanctioned” a number of pupils after allegations that a group of girls visiting from a nearby state school were subjected to misogynistic language, racial slurs and jeering.

The boys’ private school near Windsor, Berkshire, told the BBC that an investigation took place into the incident which occurred during a speech by Nigel Farage last week.

A person, who said they were a parent of one of the girls who attended the speech, wrote on social media anonymously that the students were booed inside the lecture theatre and were subjected to “racial slurs” and “generally misogynistic comments”. They said of the private school pupils: “Their behaviour was awful.”
The poster also said that Eton boys had cheered Farage’s “worst comments on migrants and Covid”.

The college told the BBC it had apologised “unreservedly” for the “totally unacceptable” behaviour.

@duckbilly
I am sure these children will be very harshly disciplined.

The social media account that detailed the original allegations said some boys have been suspended for a few days, and there's been an assembly about it.

Which part do you class as 'very harsh'?

@duckbilly most of my husband’s peers have got very average lives. A few have done ok, but most have gone on to be very unremarkable, with distinctly average jobs. So I agree with you on this point at least.

Not everyone who attends Eton or similar will be extraordinary earners and / or in positions power, obviously.

But the number of privately educated people who are extraordinary earners and / or in positions of power is disproportionate to the number of privately educated people in the general population.

A suspension is a serious punishment at any school. Besides full expulsion, there isn’t much else. Unless you want to bring back corporal punishment.

You completely misunderstood the point I made..

Another poster said they were sure the sanctions would've been 'very harsh'.

To me, 'very harsh' suggests the sanctions were somewhat unfair or more severe than necessary.

I don't think a few days suspension for subjecting someone to racist slurs is excessive or unfair in the slightest. Far from it.

A couple of boys? bloody hell!!! have you read what actually happened???? the names they called them???

What else do you call privileged Etonians who abuse a group female state school pupils?

Obviously thats acceptable to you but it it isn't to me, especially as so many Etonians will go into finance, industry and politics - no surprise this country fosters such misogyny, both in Parliament, the justice system and the Police with people like you excusing such behaviour.

@sunnydaytoday0 actually I meant "very harsh" to mean very severe. I think suspension is very severe.

I think most ex- Etonians lead average and boring lives like the rest of us. Granted they are unlikely to be poor, but most on the forum probably aren't poor either.

I would hate to live in a society where we do not forgive our children mistakes. If it was repeated- yes, expulsion. But they need a chance.

@walkinginsunshinekat but from what source- and is it reliable?

Of course misogyny and racism is not acceptable. But bashing kids who are priviledged isn't either.

If there was this kind of scene in state comp it would not lead to this much vitriol. Even if the same language was used.

I will repeat it again. They are just children.

The kids are old enough to know right from wrong, and having concerns over the culture of a school from which many pupils will go on to have influential positions is not even close to misogyny or racism.

Well, you can't have it both ways ways, they are either capable of listening and debating with such a controversial figure as Farage or they are not.

Children? they were all over 10yo so above the age of criminal responsibility and racism is a criminal act

This type of behaviour is unacceptable, where ever it occurs, it is even more shocking when it involves "children" who have had every advantage in life.

If there was this kind of scene in state comp it would not lead to this much vitriol. Even if the same language was used

Really? Imagine the headlines if a group of black Etonians (if you could find that many) were jeered and abused when they visited a State Comp?

@PinkFrogss I completely agree with you. I think having concerns is perfectly valid.

Calling a bunch of children "entitled twats" and somehow holding them up to a different moral barometer just for their social class (or bursary status as if the case for 20% +) I think is discriminatory.

There are a fair amount of children at Eton on assisted places from poorer backgrounds. What if it was these children that were jeering and using profanities? Would it make people feel better that it wasn't the "entitled twats?"

The thing is here, is that you just don't know

@walkinginsunshinekat not every child who goes to Eton has been born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Believe me. There is a very big bursary scheme ..

@walkinginsunshinekat never heard of state comp kids victimising/beating up "posh "
Private school kids? Physical assaults - the full works.

@duckbilly minded to message my godson and ask which of his peers have been suspended. I would put every penny I have that this wasn’t the bursary children shouting racist slurs. It would be the children who hear this type of insult and language around the dinner table at home. And if they are impressionable children as you say why the hell are they being exposed to the toxicity of Nigel Farage.

I don’t think anyone is saying less privileged students are held to lower standards, and it would be acceptable for them to make racist and misogynistic insults.

In this case, the students do in fact sound like twats, and the aiming of their insults at state school students is where the class element comes in.

@duckbilly You are focusing your sympathy on the perpetrators and not the victims.

Or as one girl victim put it "No wonder the country is in such a mess"

I don't think she meant an Eton Mess, though......

@mrBanks you are probably right.
It probably isn't the bursary kids.
I just think boys together can be very stupid at times and it isn't always about class.

@mrBanks yes I agree too the offending children have ruined it for the majority and have demonstrated that they can't handle this kind of debate.

@walkinginsunshinekat maybe. Boys can say really stupid things. So do girls.
They just don't all make the front page because mum and dad chose a school for them.

Same. But I imagine the parents who send their kids to Eton are products of Eton themselves and rate being a complete arrogant knob.

@Luckycatt disagree. Really quite hard to get in these days. No longer a school you can get in to if daddy went

I thought about how such a visit could be justified, and came up with this - it should at least keep them too busy to shout and sneer. Not in line with modern plan structures, I'm sure.

Lesson plan for visit of Nigel Farage. Pupils' version
Expected Outcome: understanding of effects of language use on hearers of political talk.
Preparation for Visit: find out what you can about Mr Farage from a variety of sources and classify them according to your understanding of British political thought. Be prepared to defend your work to your class master.
Read the handout of the speech and highlight any items you might wish to question, such as unclear use of language, or questionable opinions.
As you listen to the speech, note any changes from the original published text and think about why they were made.
Using your highlighting and notes, formulate three questions to seek to present in the Q&A afterwards.
Note down any questions asked and answers given.
After Work.
Study the speech for use of rhetorical forms, for particularly powerful language, such as "infestation", "invasion", and write an argument for Mr Farage's intentions in using these forms to an audience of school children.
Assess whether you have changed your opinion on any of Mr Farage's arguments after listening to him. Be prepared to defend your thoughts to your class., your master and your parents.

TBF i expect a slightly better standard of behaviour from Etons pupils, in the main, they want for nothing & have had the best money can buy from birth.

Though money clearly doesn't buy manners.

But this isn't about what girls do or don't do, there are no reports of bad behaviour from the visiting female pupils.

Actually, i'm quite saddened by your defence of the indefensible.

There must have been staff present, either Eton or escorting state school staff - why didn’t they intervene on the spot? The behaviour was clearly indefensible.