Nazis based their elite schools on top British private schools *title edited by MNHQ at OP's request*

[Placido]

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/17/nazis-based-their-elite-schools-on-top-british-private-schools

Discuss!

What do you think about it, firstly?

Why don't you start the discussion? What's your view?

What are you trying to say

My observation is it's written for the guardian so is the OP expecting it to be pro UK public schools?

I think there is a trend at the moment for ripping apart the schools of 50 years ago. Clearly publishers think they sell. But it was interesting read none the less.

Thinking that my FIL might have been a role model based on the timing which made me giggle!

@MrPickles73 actually The Times seems to have been doing a hatchet job on private schools the last 6 months, there seemed to be a sorry every other day for a while. Bit just the Guardian these days.

I think it's fascinating.

And, let's face it, we, the British Public, remain in awe of our public schools, don't we?...

Not really a surprise. Most of the royals/ upper class were rampantly pro Nazi for quite a long time till the rest of the world actually realised what they were up to and they had to change their opinion

Just about every country in the world has a few elite schools based on English public schools, not just the "baddies' like the nazis and besides, the Germans and Austro Hungarians had a long tradition of military academies, didn't bother reading it tbh as the headline annoyed me too much, and I'm not even a fan of independent schools.

This is the work of a reputed historian. There is a whole book which would be several years of work, with citations and having undergone peer review. This is not someone who woke up this morning and decided to write an anti public school rant.
Why don’t we read the ACTUAL original research and then make up our minds??!

@Placido

I think there is a trend at the moment for ripping apart the schools of 50 years ago. Clearly publishers think they sell. But it was interesting read none the less.

You think, in 2021, there's a trend to criticise schools of the 1970s?

Private or state? Or both?

I'm wondering where you are reading about it. It seems an odd journo trend, unless people at school in the 70s are enjoying reading about it.

Meh. So they thought British public schools offered a good standard of education which they did and do.

"I think there is a trend at the moment for ripping apart the schools of 50 years ago. Clearly publishers think they sell. But it was interesting read none the less."

It's an old trick, Placido, that had been tried over and over again throughout the ages. But they never got anywhere. Lately, I heard Keir Starmer - leader of the Labour Party, of course, who else - said he was going to ban or get rid of or whatever else (frankly I've better things to do than listening to all this Labour crap) if he runs the country, etc. Which reminds me of one of his predecessor's promise of doing something similar at the time. I'm talking of John Prescott, Deputy to Tony Blair, no less... And what happened? Not only did he and the Labour Party conveniently forget to get rid of the public schools when they were in power but John Prescott actually requested to visit Eton sometime after Labour was kicked out of Downing Street!

But of course, Eton wasn't born yesterday. Prescott's request to visit Eton was refused! Which leads me to wonder, again, what on earth made the likes of Shami Chakrabarti think her son had a chance of being admitted to Eton and that Diane Abbott suddenly thinks a private school is actually very suitable for her son but not yours?

About the Nazis, I've read that Hitler had known about Eton and actually had a "soft spot" for the school. During the Blitz of London, the Nazis tried to demolish everything great about England but had left Eton relatively unscathed except for some superficial damage to the front side of the school - you can still see the repairs being made from the courtyard today.

Talking about well known political leaders, Vladimir Putin actually entertained a small group of Eton schoolboys at a private setting in Moscow not too long ago in response to the boys' request to meet him. This was even BEFORE Putin had met Theresa May who happened to be the new British prime minister at the time.

Lastly, I must add that Eton, the School, had never encouraged its boys to be political leaders, or for that matter, "leaders" of any fields that you can think of! What the School does best is to help YOU achieve the path YOU want to follow. If you want, you could turn out to be JM Keynes (economist); or John Gurdon (Nobel laureate physician); or Justin Welby (Archbishop of Canterbury); or Quintin Hogg (Lord Hailsham - Lord Chancellor); or Sir Ranulph Fiennes (explorer) or anything you want...

@MrPickles73

My observation is it's written for the guardian so is the OP expecting it to be pro UK public schools?

Ha! I was about to write this. Such a tedious newspaper.

@Legoninjago1 @MrPickles73 Which illustrious newspaper do you trust to give you a decent perspective on the world?

@nightvision I recognise you and think you might have a new username!!!

There are schools all over the world which within the last 100 years have modelled themselves on English public schools. It’s not that much of a surprise that they did in Germany too, is it?

I knew this would be from the guardian before opening your thread.

Sorry but I cancelled my subscription when they burnt Suzanne Moore at the stake.

Does anyone know the Nazi position on the use of apostrophes?

@crumpet Yup I think it very much is when you think of what the Nazi's were trying to achieve - mindless acceptance of an extreme doctrine that persecuted people based on their 'difference' to a supreme race. Why did they see the British public school system as something that they could mirror that would help them achieve this?

@Outofexcuses Hah that was my useless copying of their headline on my phone, apologies, bloody private education look what it did for my grammar. Not a mistake by the paper at all.

So does India, so does Pakistan, South Africa etc.. look at the Doom School in Delhi

Doon even lol autocorrect www.doonschool.com/

@Switch82 But hang on wasn't the Doon school set up when India was still under colonial rule? So hardly a good comparison.