Who'd send their sprog to Eton now?

[felulageller]

£46k a year for your DS to watch Neighbours at lunchtime, take all the drugs going, have sex with older adults in fields, leave with a B and D at A level.

Learn zero social skills.

Sounds more like a sink comp to me?

[Thisistyresome]

Don;t know if I woudl but I certainly wouldn't send a low IQ kid who was starting to unravel, exacerbated by his mother death.

[Aleaiactaest]

The school was local to Granny, his elder brother was there, he could board - so his father could go off and have time for his own duties/the Queen’s consort. They probably could keep him safer in this school because his brother’s safety was already ensured etc. Saved the taxpayer some security costs etc - all considerations.
This wasn’t a normal kid sent to the school which is the best fit for him. Security would have been the top priority.

[Thisistyresome]

@Aleaiactaest

I refuse to read Harry’s book let alone buy it.

However, was he happy at Eton? Or did he hate it? Why does it matter what A levels he got? Sounds like he had fun there and that is what he may have needed?
Is the hair washing from Ludgrove - I mean I still offered to wash my DCs hair up until 10 (especially long hair for girls) because all hell would break loose if they got shampoo in their eyes or inevitably, they used too much shampoo, got dandruff from too much product etc etc. So why is washing an under 13 hair an issue? Don’t they start at 7 plus there so are really little?
The dentist also always says to keep brushing children’s teeth for as long as they let you!

The A Level matter because it shows that he was unsuited for the environment. A low IQ kid knowing everyone is significantly smarter than you is not going to be good for you. Had he been sent to somewhere like Millfield he may have been better off. Also some kids do better academically in an environment where they don;t feel so behind.

Eton was a bad choice for him, regardless of what he has turned in to the 13 year old Harry would have done better being pitched in a mar less academically competitive environment.

[ILovePigsInBlankets]

It sounds like it was completely the wrong school for him as an individual.

It's such a shame his parents insisted on sending him there - they had the pick of any (independent) school in the country and could have chosen a less academic and more nurturing school where he probably would have been much happier and encouraged to take more practical and a less academic route.

[Aleaiactaest]

But the Harry story is always the same… Poor me. My family failed me. Did not make the right choices for me. I never got to choose my lot etc etc.- everything chosen for me. Well he has it better than 99.999 on the planet and he cannot hope to be in the 0.11111 per cent (those that have tons of money, lots of choices etc and a perfect family set up full of love & attention).

If he really is so upset about his lot, he should have changed his name and identity , gone undercover, started a normal working life.

I really do not think you can whine about being given the opportunity to go to Eton. It is not like they made him do Maths and Double Maths and Physics for A level is it.

[Aleaiactaest]

And why criticise your father so openly in a book that itself is utterly failing your own children more than your father ever did. Imagine being a teenage girl and reading about your father’s frost bitten penis and losing his virginity and understanding that he may have exposed you to a Taliban risk. It is all utter madness and hypocrisy. I really do feel sorry for him but he is perpetuating the generational failure far more than what was done to him with his actions.

[Velvetween]

@3WildOnes

@Nsmechange2023 why do you regret? We have been vaguely considering Winchester for one of ours in the future.

I recently overheard 2 (wealthy and ex public school) colleagues debating Winchester as a school choice for their own DC. One mentioned that their concern was that the super wealthy kids had access to party pads in London and drugs were an issue (obvs not at 13 but a bit later). Seemed like a lot was going down on exeat weekends. This had come from a current parent and it had put this colleague off sending their DC there.

[UsuallySuze]

What's wrong with kids watching Neighbours? I went to a very academic boarding school and we watched it every day- teenagers need down time same as everyone else. Likewise I'm not sure there's a school in the world (other than perhaps some weird Christian fundamentalist school in America) that guarantees your child will emerge a drug-free virgin

A B and a D at A level when you're at a school like that is poor though- Harry would probably have done better somewhere else.

[Aleaiactaest]

@Velvetween - this is an issue at pretty much all the expensive schools in this country. You just need one rich parent who does not check on their DC and gives them a pad. Job done. My friends who are teachers say you spot the type of rich DC a mile off - often either overly spoilt, emotionally neglected, much younger mum, parents off to parties constantly too, divorcee kid. Designer labels etc. The teachers know.
The rest of the DC convince their parents that everyone is going to that party. Those parents just need to say no. Every school down the country has dodgy parties going on. Both the DC and their parents need to know when to say no, at every school in the country.

[longwayoff]

You must be joking. Send them to board for some of the most vulnerable times in their lives? No. Poor Harry, screwed up through what I expect were the best intentions. Although given how he's turned out, he may well feel that Eton was a personal punishment rather than the best choice in the circumstances. Nothing will ever console him, though. Understandably.

[ClaudiaWankleman]

@Aleaiactaest

But the Harry story is always the same… Poor me. My family failed me. Did not make the right choices for me. I never got to choose my lot etc etc.- everything chosen for me. Well he has it better than 99.999 on the planet and he cannot hope to be in the 0.11111 per cent (those that have tons of money, lots of choices etc and a perfect family set up full of love & attention).

If he really is so upset about his lot, he should have changed his name and identity , gone undercover, started a normal working life.

I really do not think you can whine about being given the opportunity to go to Eton. It is not like they made him do Maths and Double Maths and Physics for A level is it.

Interesting use of percentages.

[Swissmountains]

Sprog?

If he had been watching Pride and Prejudice at lunch time you would have called him out of touch.

[Swissmountains]

@Velvetween

I recently overheard 2 (wealthy and ex public school) colleagues debating Winchester as a school choice for their own DC. One mentioned that their concern was that the super wealthy kids had access to party pads in London and drugs were an issue (obvs not at 13 but a bit later). Seemed like a lot was going down on exeat weekends. This had come from a current parent and it had put this colleague off sending their DC there.

Children are the responsibility of their own parents during exeat weekends. If your kid is taking drugs in London party pads, then maybe bring them home instead? Or a wilder idea still put your foot down about where your child stays. Heaven bid check out the houses/families/set up they are staying in.

Not rocket science and not my experience.

[EileenAdler]

Harold the Dim only got in because of who he was, he wouldn't have stood a chance otherwise. They regularly search for drugs, have sniffer dogs on site all the time and you are summarily thrown out if caught.

And as for the standard of education offered by Eton : 98% of pupils go onto University, 45% Oxford/Cambridge so it goes to show for all that time effort and money, just how thick he really is. He's weak and easily led, even the Army couldn't do much more with him and he probably had help proofreading his book, which was written by somebody else.

[Bungabung]

Dd went to the local comp for 6th form and drugs were rife, parties every weekend with drugs and shagging and school finished at 2.30. Many would have been delighted with a B and D. It was free, but still shit.

[Bungabung]

Lazy and just not at all driven.

[EileenAdler]

It took all that educational privilege to get the grades he finally got. He's just like his mother : dim, bitter and easily led.

[CPL593H]

Watching Neighbours isn't any sort of problem, surely. Eton was clearly not the best fit for him and it is one aspect where I think he was let down, although I can see that after Diana's death keeping him with William may have been the priority.

[Bungabung]

If he'd gone to Millfield he would have moaned that Wills went to Eton 🤷🏼‍♀️

[TizerorFizz]

@Bungabung
He might but at the time Millfield was more expensive! He needed somewhere with a very active Cadet forces and lots of outside education. He’s clearly not academic or artistic.

Drugs are everywhere! Everywhere. If wanted, it’s easy to get them. From gritty comp to Eton. Even from mum and dad!

[Delorestormborn]

He should have gone to the school Charles went to.
Loads of private schools cheat that's how they get good exam results. He must be pretty dim. Ex MP Rory Stewart was his tutor.

[Greatly]

@Delorestormborn

He should have gone to the school Charles went to.
Loads of private schools cheat that's how they get good exam results. He must be pretty dim. Ex MP Rory Stewart was his tutor.

Do they? Cheat? How?

[ItWasDobbinAtTheMareAndSpare]

@Aleaiactaest

I refuse to read Harry’s book let alone buy it.

However, was he happy at Eton? Or did he hate it? Why does it matter what A levels he got? Sounds like he had fun there and that is what he may have needed?
Is the hair washing from Ludgrove - I mean I still offered to wash my DCs hair up until 10 (especially long hair for girls) because all hell would break loose if they got shampoo in their eyes or inevitably, they used too much shampoo, got dandruff from too much product etc etc. So why is washing an under 13 hair an issue? Don’t they start at 7 plus there so are really little?
The dentist also always says to keep brushing children’s teeth for as long as they let you!

Yes, it was just the manner in which he described it, he says it was ‘confusing’ and later, that it stops at 13.

He said each boy ‘reclines like a little pharaoh for his personalised hair washing’ and that after the matrons would ‘ease back his head for a slow and luxurious rinse’ which he called ‘confusing as hell.’ He does say that there were separate baths for boys that had reached puberty.