academic ability for eton

[drkag]

HI,

My son, who is only 6 currently, has decided that he wants to go to eton. Combination of reading young james bond and a friend's father. He is at a local prep school in SHeffield but we are by no means financially at the level of Eton. I am also wondering about the academic standards. He is bright, currently reading age 11+ and on a recent assessment by ed psych, due to problems at previous school, his IQ was recoreded as 158. I saw on here a sugegstion fo doing some bond assessment appers and for his age he finds these very easy.

I don;t want him getting his hopes up, do you think he would stand a reasonable chance of getting in. He also loves sport, and is on the LTA tennis performance program as well as playing rugby and cricket plus learning the trumpet so he is a good all rounder.

Thanks in advance

Thanks. My husbands job is moving to London so may well be we live nearer then.

I do think it sounds as if you're pushing things a bit for a 6 year old. Having said that, my eldest DS is also 6 and his school suggested an IQ test due to "difficulties" he was having in class - for that read being a PITA as his mind was working overtime so he was a bit disruptive.

We didn't go ahead with the IQ test in the end as we were wary about labelling him at such an early age and the disruptive behaviour seems to have mostly eased off. Never thought about it as an indication we should be thinking about Eton!

I'm State-school educated but have known a few Old Etonians over the years as colleagues. They are generally nice guys - clearly posh, confident, privileged - and likeable despite my innate prejudices. In fact, one of my OE colleagues refers to his school as "his dirty secret" and tends to me very coy about admitting to it as he knows people judge him on it (and not always fairly). I only know because I interviewed him and it was on his CV.

Zigster - that is one of the things that put me off Eton. Everyone I know who went there seems to feel obliged to apologise for the fact because of their (largely correct) assumptions about how they will otherwise be perceived.

JourneyThroughLife said:

"I do know something about Eton. Boys get in due to academic ability, nothing to do with social class or the money their parents can throw around."

Well we know that isn't true if we think about it for a moment. Prince Harry followed Prince William there, even though Harry is famously (by his own admission/boast) un-academic. And I'm glad he did too: after the early and sudden and traumatic loss of his mother, I'm sure that to be at school with his big brother was the best thing for him.

I'm not criticising for a moment, but I do think it's a bit naive to suggest that social class/social standing plays no part in Eton's decisions about who to allow in.

In fact that sort of mitigation (the early and sudden and traumatic loss of a mother) would ease the way into almost all top schools, private or state, if it meant keeping two grieving siblings together.

On another point, I wouldn't set too much store on IQ tests, particularly at this early stage. So many people seem to rely on high scores as though that's it, with no other factors at play in determining successful outcomes to schools, unis and jobs, which is bollocks of course. My BIL scored almost exactly the same as the OP's son at around the same age but is really quite dull, both conversationally and in what he's achieved objectively re. exams, uni and career. Perfectly nice and convivial, but certainly quite limited on almost all fronts.

I know lots of Etonians of at least three generations and I'd say that even the youngest generation doesn't have to be all that to get in. Some will be brilliant of course, but the lowest achievers at Eton will be very middle of the road, academically speaking.

Curlew, if you had gone to Eton yourself then you might have a better comprehension of what I said instead of assuming all and sundry and putting words in my mouth. At the risk of repeating myself, I said DS went to Spain recently with a group of his medic friends who were all state school educated. And that?s exactly it. Just a little point to prove Etonians can and do mix with non Etonians.

Nowhere in my post had I said the uni that DS attends has only state school pupils. Neither did I say my DS?s friends all come from state schools. You are evidently seeing things that are not there, which is quite worrying.

Of course, my DS has all kinds of friends - from both state and independent sector. He counts as some of his friends, a caretaker in a nearby council estate, our local postman, right up to a multi-millionaire, a couple of Lords (his ex-schoolmates), to name but a few.

Somehow you come across as someone with a big chip on the shoulder. Or is it a log? First, you barge into this Eton thread with precious nothing to offer, only to reveal your true desire to strangle Etonians (no need to pretend otherwise) which is pretty mean, don?t you think? What have Etonians done to you (or your family) to invoke your obvious hatred for them and their School? You are clearly consumed by envy and jealousy.

Get a life!

FWIW, young kids can and do make decisions about their future and are capable of following through. My eldest decided what he wanted to do aged and never wavered from it. He's now 20 and studying his chosen subject at the university he picked aged 7... Eton was suggested by one of his junior school teachers, but wasn't right for us as a family. If it's what you and he want, go for it.

Sorry that should have said aged 7

?Anyone else chuckling inwardly at Pete having forked out probably the best part of £1/4m to have his ds mixing with state educated dcs all doing exactly the same but whose parents are £250k better off? No, just me then....?

There are more ways than one to enter Eton titchy, but only if you can temporarily set aside your prejudice and learn how. More than 200 boys pay substantially reduced fees (60% and upward); and that?s not counting around 50 boys who pay absolute zilch!

Be that as it may with a £250K price tag, you still have four times as many parents as there are places each year frantically waving their fat cheque books and falling over themselves trying to buy their sons an Eton education.

Why?

That?s because All roads lead from Eton!.

I feel very sorry for anyone who sees education as a way to narrow horizons - Curlew, is that what you believe? One of the great things about Eton and other good schools is that they encourage the students to widen their horizons - meet, mix, socialise, work with people of every background. Money well spent.

It does seem a bit early, but for a very bright boy Eton is not the only option, especially if you are going to be in London. I'd look at Westminster, Winchester, St Paul's, UCS, King's Wimbledon. I would be very cautious about boarding, especially if you will be living a long way away, and even if your son is very keen. (And I say that as someone who chose to board myself - my mother was very anti - and who enjoyed it.) I would also think carefully about whether single-sex education is what you want, especially in a boarding environment.

I don't usually comment on education threads but I think the op is getting a bit of a hard time.

it sounds to me like Eton is worth finding out more about as well as other options for your son. the thread title had me expecting a question about whether it was challenging enough for a bright child, sounds like some think it will be. a keen boarder will thoroughly enjoy themselves and 13 is a lot older than 6 in that respect.

good luck op and ops son!

What have Etonians done to you (or your family) to invoke your obvious hatred for them and their School?

Run the country badly ?

pete

I know you think you are presenting Eton in a positive light but your 'all roads lead from Eton' links are doing the exact opposite. Bumptious, boastful, mocking Parents like you are the exact reason normal people think they need to avoid Eton parents.

Apologies to Indrid and others who seem v down to earth.

I agree Greythorne. From what I've read on these threads in the past, the rather ridiculous position that an Eton education is unarguably the best education on offer is narrow (and indeed ill-educated) in the extreme. All roads clearly do not lead from any one school.

Of course, you're right Fairdene and Greythorne. All roads don't lead from Eton. It's deliberately written to mock. My DD went to a state school and to her that's the best school in the world. Who am I to disagree especially now that she's got a well paid, satisfying job when she's not even 23 yet?

He is 6 he has a fantasy of what Eton is Just say yes dear and let him be a child

Have you seen some of the idiots that school has churned out?

I'm sure that in its 600 year history it's churned out loads of idiots, and also loads of impressive young men, much like any other school.

FWIW I know two old Etonians and they are both of the impressive variety.

As long as you are 'one of them' I am sure you thrive but i doubt its very inclusive and the extra curricular and family element in schools like that are huge you need the money and connections you fully embrace it.

Deliberately boastful or just plain boastful, pete the impact is the same......you perpetuate myths about pushy, snobby, full of themselves Eton parents.

JourneyThroughLife said:

"I do know something about Eton. Boys get in due to academic ability, nothing to do with social class or the money their parents can throw around."

ROFL at this - surely one of the main ways Eton does select boys is based on ability to pay? Sure there are some subsidised places - a very small % of the total despite the original charitable aim of the school. For the vast majority of families 'in the middle' - ie over the threshold for subsidised fees but not at millionaire status. the fees are far far beyond our reach. However bright my ds is, there is no way he can go to eton - and the only thing stopping him would be that we don't have money that we can afford to throw around.

FWIW the only Etonian I know is a very bright, very sociable bloke who has no intention of sending his 2 sons there (even though he has money to burn) - I think that says a lot.

Boys get in due to academic ability, nothing to do with social class or the money their parents can throw around

and its lucky that Eton is (like other very expensive schools) happy to accept pupils under false names so that their parents at the top of the Chinese Communist party are not compromised

There?s nothing to boast Greythorne, like it or not, the facts remain the same - that Eton?s impact is devastating, which explains why the very mention of the School causes so much stir. Nothing to do with pushy, snobby parents etc.

?and its lucky that Eton is (like other very expensive schools) happy to accept pupils under false names so that their parents at the top of the Chinese Communist party are not compromised?

Pupils like, for example . . .?