Would you send your ds to Eton?

[Flum]

assuming you could afford to.

Sophable, my dad has offered to pay for DD to go there (his old school, going co-ed) maybe if I let him know how much it's changed he'll just pay for her to stay where she is!

marialuisa, dh knows of it from when he was at school himself which was in the 80s, so actually i think magic mushrooms have been the drug of choice there for at least the last 2 decades!!!

I went to a private day svhool from 11-13 and saw far more moneied parents than i ever did at my boarding school from 16-18. Parents at the day school paid for expensive cars holidays and designer clothes. On the other hand at the boarding school the parents by and large scrimped and saved to give their children an amazing experience. I have since discovered that some of the parents were exceptionally rich but i never even suspected that at the time by looking at my friends. I have a normal life as a nurse. A great relationship with my family. As does my younger brother who went to a different boarding school from the age of nine.

I have also worked at a boarding prep school and find some of you parents to be particularly histrionic. Sure the children cry for five minutes whilst their parents drive away but five mins later they are up to high jinks and having a whale of a time.

PLEASE don't taint us all with your inverted snobbery brush. Try actually looking at something properly before shooting your mouths off.

PS: I went to a Catholic boarding school though, so perhaps that makes a difference. Not so motivated by proving how much money you have!

"don't want my boys to wear cloaks unless they're dressing up as batman "

psml

I know someone whose oldest boy is at Eton on a free music scholarship. Lovely family. Both parents are musicians and not remotely wealthy, believe me. Youngest child is disabled. They are all very happy with the situation. The boys are all extremely nice and charming too.

They CANT be nice and charming

WHY would you want to send your children there? WHY would you want to be part of it?

They are nice and charming. Polite, friendly and personable. In the specific case I mentioned, well, for a start his much younger brother has qutie a severe condition and takes up a lot of his parents' time and emotional energy. He is a gifted musician and the school has offered him a music scholarship with free, amazingly high quality tuition. Plus, he really enjoys it. What's not to like?

No. No I would not.

If he was boarding no, I'm not a fan of boarding school.

If he was a day boy, probably.

No. My 2 cousins went there back in the 60's and you have never seen 2 more f*cked up adult males. However it might be fair to point out that their family was a typical upper-class English disfunctional family so that might have something to do with it...

Don't like the idea of boarding school at all, and not 100% sure about private schools anyway. My private education did me no favours.

"I want the best opportunity for my kids and to mix with other kids who's parents have the same values - not snobby just sensible."

nice attitude

obv people who cannot afford it are not sensible

my friend's brother got a scholarship there in the 80s. i don't know how he got on, but they weren't rich or anything, he was just super intelligent.

Dara I know someone who went there in the early 90's, also on a music scholarhip to the 6th form. Dad a painter/decorator, mum a nurse. XXXhad been at his local comp and a teacher there mentioned Eton to him, so he pursued it. Apparently the musical gifts he has came as a total surprise to his non-musical family. He loved his time at Eton and is a great bloke.

But what does that prove ?! Nothing. We're all dealing in anecdote and hearsay. Eton and similar might be great for some, but not others. Each to their own surely.

not in a million years....

definitely not.

I know a lot of people who went there but I don't like the idea of boarding school. It can inhibit your ability to form close emotional relationships in adult life. May be if it was very outgoing child who wanted to go and home life was pretty dire I might have my arm twisted to do it but why do that when you can have your children around you as day boys at places just as good for facilities and grounds etc in day private schools? And yes I could afford to send the twins there and they might well get in but I won't even though they don't have a father around and I'm not convinced boys should just be with one monther at home. I still think the boarding school psychological damage is too high.

b=no - but i dont believe in boarding school reall. unkess gifted and unable to avoid. not my normal social circle.

this si an ancienat farking htread

I heard a news item recently about the government funding places in top boarding schools as an alternative to (more expensive option) care homes, which I thought was ironic given that Eton started as a charity school.

Only know of one person (anecdotally) who studied at Eton. Her dad was a master there, hence the exception to the all boy rule. Must have been an in-teresting experience.

Issymum delivers the answer she has given on just about every private education thread in the last year:

Yes, if it wouldn't result in real financial strain for the family and if, given all the potential alternatives and the personality, social sensitivities and academic potential and needs of my child, I thought that this was the school that best suited him.

Otherwise no.

End of.

no I would not ever send my sons to Eton, even if I won the lottery, or married someone posh.

I know loads of OEs, they are all part of the same club, the English Establishment, something I would never try to join or get my children into. Oh, there is one honourable exception, he was a scholarship boy.

I once heard an OE when drunk say that he went to the best school in the world. Poor idiot really believed it. No you didnt you twit, you may have gone to the school with the highest average parental income in the world. There is a difference, but youre too dumb to see it.

It's quite hard to get into Eton however rich you are, though. It's not like a lot of the boarding schools for the rich and thick. It also can have a negative effect actually on career etc. It's not an easy decision even if you support boarding school education.

my friends brother got in on scholorship (cant spell) and declined because his mum could never "keep up" with the others really... She was basically a single mum.