Would you send your ds to Eton?

[Flum]

assuming you could afford to.

I probably wouldn't, even if we could afford it. I think you have to feel confident in the school milieu if you hope to support your children in their education and help them integrate it into the rest of their life experience.
Even if a large sack of money fell on us from the sky we'd still be out of our league as a family in terms of lifestyle and background.
Nothing against Eton itself

how lovely; out for an evening stroll with your loved one, you turn to make a witty, erudite point only to see them covered in shite.

My dad always walks on the outside, even swaps over if you cross the road He went to a bog standard state school in Tooting and left at 15.

my grandad and dad did/do this too, I think it's a general manners thing isn't it.

Good manners really are most appealing on men. But as you say SoupDragon you don't need to spend 20 odd grand a year to get them.

I prefer the 'covered in shite' story personally.

And no, I would never send my son away to school, anywhere.

However....come back to me in fifteen years' time when he's in the midst of full-blown hormonal chaos, and I might have changed my mind.
But NEVER Eton - no good Welsh boy coulhd hack all that upper-class Englishness!!

Bruno the Magic Boy is going there

poor lamb

I think the advantages of public schools are really over-rated. In years gone by they certainly got you into Oxford and all the tops jobs. There will still be a few corners of the country where the old boys network ran strong but in the real world, I'd save my money.

I went to baording school (though no where near as posh as Eton!) - the first few years were shit, but 5th / 6th form was a good laugh. Yes you do get fab sports / arts facilities but it would be much more cost effective to go to the lcoal comp and pay for ds / dd to do extra stuff out of hours.

Personally, if my folks had saved up all the money they'd spent on school fees then given it to me when I'd left uni, I would have been infinitely better off - enough cash to buy a very nice place when I moved to London in the early days of the propery boom. Could have sold up for half a million and now be living in a mansion up north!!!

Oh - yeah - and do you really want your ds being buggered by Oliver Letwyn lookalikes throughout his formative years!

I don't think all boarders get buggered! My dh didn't (though we went back to his prep school once and one of the masters who taught him and he used to watch Monty Python with was doing 5 in Chelmsford for just that so he obv had a lucky escape)

Think I probably should add here that I didn't have this problem Mine was a co-ed boarding school!

Yes, if he was academically up to it, and he wanted to go to boarding school. Its his choice.

"Oh - yeah - and do you really want your ds being buggered by Oliver Letwyn lookalikes throughout his formative years! "

Just teh thought of Oliver Letwin lookalikes is bad enough without the thought of teh buggery as well.

No, in answer to the question. Agree with Marina, wouldn't want my child to feel socially inferior. Plus, re: the extremely academically able comment - er, Prince Harry anyone?

I don't really want to send ds or dd to private school at all (though I might if there turns out to be a good reason for it).

But even then I would only consider sending ds to Eton if i could also send dd.

No because we don't live near Eton and I wouldn't want my children to board. But if we lived near it, and they could get in, and we could afford it, then yes. Why not? They would make excellent contacts for their future professional lives, and their home life would keep their feet firmly on the ground.

batters

he is dd1's friend. He lives in our village. He's very precious and precocious (sp??). He is obsessed with doing magic and showing everyone his magic, he comes out with classic lines such as "my papa says that tree is deciduous" which baffle dd1. He has an absurdly posh voice.

he irritates and fascinates in equal measure and has a minor fan club on here

He sounds ace. Bit like that 'gifted' boy in antiques - can't remember his name but Wogan used to interview him. Anyway he's a woman now, but still Welsh.

In the highly unlikely event of giving birth to a son, no, I wouldn't send him there for lots of reasons. And I've only met a couple of Eton boys that I can remember (must have met more though, went to posho university and all) but I have to say they didn't fry my onion.

I don't believe in Bruno the Magic Boy. I want proof.

PMSL, "he's a woman now but still Welsh"

You couldn't make it up could you

I know - that's one of the best lines I've read on MN in 4 years! Bruno the magic boy isn't going to get much chance to practice magic at eaton is he?

Except Hide the Salami, according to TokenBloke...

Well you can take the boy out of the Welsh mountains but you can't ........

OMG! I cannot believe there are Mumsnetters on here who know Etonians! Or who would even consider sending their sons there!!!!

Ok, apart from the obvious sexism of the whole thing (only men are good enough to rule the world!), Eton is the most snobbish school I have ever come across! The pupils have no idea of the real world, they live in this little bubble where mummy and daddy can come and bail them out if things ever get too bad. They focus on outdated traditions that serve no purpose whatsoever other than to give them all a feeling of superiority, which is all that Eton is about.

They showed a video at the school I am working in all about Eton, it was just awful! The stereotypical poncey little English brat, I had to hang my head in shame that I was English. I spend a lot of time here trying to break these very stereotypes about English people!

So no, I would not send my son there!

Apologies to all those I have just offended!

I went to a solid all girls boarding school,but on no account would I send my own children.

I've gone off you FLUM, with your unnecessary 'Welsh' comment.

Rhubarb I've met some OE's (as we like to call them ). Honestly they're just like if you can ignore the accents, the haircuts, the huge amounts of dosh, the fantastic manners