Would you send your ds to Eton?

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assuming you could afford to.

Although we went to a nice school and got out of it what people want from these establishments,it has affected my older sister. She still can't get over the fact that from the age of 11 she was never really living properly at home again.It pains her..at the age of 41.

MD - that's awful.

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never, never, never. Eton or any other boarding school, I want ds's to come home to ME of an evening.

DP and his younger sister were shunted off to boarding school and tbh, it has done them no favours. Unless parents worked overseas etc, cant understand why any parent would want to send thier child away for weeks on end. I know some people wont agree with me, thats just my own feelings- dont want to offend anyone.

no bumming I promise sobernow

Protestations of 'no bumming' . What depths has MN sunk down towards?

A Headteacher friend told us that he thought weekly boarding was great for working parents. Kids arrive Monday, go home Friday tea time with all homework done, clubs/music lessons etc all done (after school in week) so a whole weekend of "Quality time".

I was tempted, but too broke & still couldn't face "sending them away".

There are loads of issues here.

I went to a small Public school for 3 years, often played Eton at Fives and won .
I was a day boarder and can tell you all that more than half the boarders I am still in contact with have unresolved issues about boarding.

I think Eton 'inherits' many of its pupils.. certainly the ones I know today had fairly grim home lives before they went to prep schools..

Saying all that I was 'rescued' from a 3000 pupil comp where the sh-t was often kicked out of the wrong faces.. So which system is the less good??

And can you take a hot crumpet from behind without blubbing???

just remembered that dp said that the "boys" used to play agame called "soggy biscuit" after dark, under the covers, which involved masturbating over biscuit, and whoever "made the most mess" had to eat the biscuit? WTF? no boy at my comprehensive would of ever played that game.

'unresolved issues'...you're so right.
All the blokes I've ever been involved with assume that our school had lots of hot girl on girl action.....
I really don't think so. People were too busy either starving themselves to death or vomiting half their tuckbox down the lavatory every night.

I've heard of that one tiredmama.

dh really, genuinely has no unresolved issues.

in fact he has so few issues he is almost one-dimensional

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Enid, he must be in the other half then!

pruni does he do that thing where if you say the word 'issues' he says 'bless you'?

soooo crap and annoying

A local comp to me (top of the county btw in exam results) temporeraly excluded a boy and girl because she was giving him a hand job in the middle of a lesson. So sexualy oddities are not unheared of in state schools either!

prufrock - I hope your ds is hairy- all the old OH I know have very hairy chests And all the old Etonians I know are very skinny. Weird. One of my best friends is an Old Etonian, and he loved it, but I wouldn't send any of my Ds' there (I can only begin to imagine what they'd make of ds1- would be hilarious).

I remember a very strange conversation with my OE friend where we both agreed we'd never mixed with our respective "types" before

I'll never dunk a Rich Tea again

happymerrieberries, very close friend of mine (still in touch with) had a close encounter with a boy at the back of our history class. (hands down pants etc) this was 10 years ago, who says the youth of TODAY have no morals?

JJ the OE I know is skinny too! Spookey!!!!
And he had never mixed with the likes of me before either! the benefits of a university education and all that

my terribly posh sil (married into the aristocracy) always says "you can tell someone who went to eton, but you can't tell him much"

dh was the only one of his siblings who didn't board - because he hated the prep term of boarding - and we have agreed that we wouldn't want ds or dd to board.

like aloha, i suppose i could just about get over it if a hitherto undiscovered rich relation paid the fees for alleyn's (post 11)!

but not dcps - of all the schools we visited, state and private, the dcps boys had the worst manners.

if we wanted to go the public boarding school route, in any case it would not be eton for us. i suppose it would be ampleforth or similar.

there is a great quotation about one of the reknowned catholic public schools (can't remember exactly which one!) - " is what eton was, a school for catholic gentlemen."

obviously that means that pre the reformation blah blah etc etc

dh and i both went to fee paying schools but ds and dd will be going to a voluntary aided catholic primary.