Harrow School

[Rache101]

Hello
My son is applying for a sixth form scholarship to Harrow school and have 3 exams and a interview, does he stand a good chance of getting in?. He does Cadets, debating, Prefect, part of a classsical society, shooting, part of the Labour Party and represents his county at Cadet football. His predicated grades haven't been released yet but I reckon he will get around 3-5 A*'s and GCSE. Do you think he stands a realistic chance or am I living in a dream world?

Thank You

[Colleger]

The ironic thing is that Eton doesn't take itself too seriously. Their is comic value in the flowered boaters worn on June 4th. It seems that virtually ever other school takes themselves far too serious, and reads too much into a uniform. I doubt the boys at Eton even think about their uniform except for on the first fitting!

[Abitwobblynow]

HG in your opinion (PC or otherwise) - what should society do with psychopaths?

[Abitwobblynow]

And back to Rache: tell your DS to go for it. Seriously. It is a sign of courage to attempt something you fear you might not get, and it is a mark of maturity to accept the disappointment that follows if you don't achieve what you strove for. It is also practice for the next risk taken. And THAT is what makes life succesfull.

Your boy sounds like a wonderful young man and exactly the type of boy that made this country great. It is an absolute myth that this country is hidebound and snobby. Actually it has always been very fluid and rewards talent. The richest man I know left a sink school at 16 (but he was always fantastic at maths!). Think about the great industrialists, like Joshua Wedgewood from artisan to landed gentry (aka rich bastard) in one generation.

Don't let all the yap yap here put you off. Harrow is a very nice school (for instance, one boy stood up and announced to the whole place he was gay. He got total respect: for his courage [this is who I am and FU if you have a problem with it] and for his honesty. Nobody messed with him. He is now at Oxford, so Harrow didn't do him any harm). They WILL get the best out of him, which he would find a shock at first until he got in touch with the pleasure of finding out, wow, I am this good (high self esteem from his own efforts, mistaken for arrogance by those who look at 'posh schools') and let us know what happens. I am really curious now, I hope you stay in touch and let us know the whole process. Who knows, there might be a lurker here who wants to follow his example. Keep talking to us Rache! (or send me a pm)

[Rache101]

Abitwobblynow thank you! It does take courage to apply but equally more to deal with disapointment and Rejection. What ever way this turns out; I hope it wil influence my DS for the better. I wil send you updates on how he is doing; thank you for your support!

[Happygardening]

Psychopaths and all those whose mental health problems make them aggressive and in fairness all those with an illness whether it's cause be organic or inorganic should be treated (if possible) but certainly looked after in an environment that satisfactorily meets their needs. In my opinion this does not include struggling in the so called community with people popping in once every couple of months to ensure that they are taking their medication that cannot treat them. What happens is they end up in the wrong place wielding knifes and throwing chairs scaring the life out of people; take my word for it there are few things more scary. I just dont like being in those kind of situations.
Unfortunately these people rouse little sympathy from Jo Public who continue to support and speak out about funding for the more appealing Special Care Baby Units and kidney dialysis machines.

[goinggetstough]

HG ????

[Ponders]

wrong thread?? (I hope )

[Happygardening]

abitwobblynow asked me what in my honest opinion PC or not should be done with psychopaths. So being a helpful type of person I relied! Only slightly more removed from the original thread than Harrow/Eton bashing and much more interesting.

[Abitwobblynow]

Sorry Rache, mini hijack.

I ask out of interest because I met someone (now in a different field completely) who worked at Broadmoor, with psychopaths. She didn't say so, but you can see she was absolutely DESTROYED by it. Like, looking into the face of evil and losing.

So off I went and bought that book by Martha Stout. She said: pychopaths are immune to treatment and only respond to harsh consequences. That most of them are alive and well and living near you, because they have worked out that jail isn't great. That you can see a psychopath by the trail of destruction and pain that goes in their wake. And that psychopaths feature very, very heavily in child abuse and in drug addiction, to the extent that in people apprehended for this, think 'psychopath'. That they are drawn to positions of power: law, medicine, commerce and politics. Hmmm, there are a few politicians and some CEOs I can think of who are well dodgy...

That they are immune to treatment and mimic emotion, feeling nothing. That they read you like a book, and this will be used in the game of manipulation and domination. That the only thing you can do is to recognise them and stay away from them. That you can never win against a psychopath, so don't even try. Do not engage with them at all, not even politely. They will not even feel offended, but will drop you (as not exploitable) and move onto an easier target.
That the old biblical definition of evil and the modern medical diagnosis of psycopathy are the same. That they are actively recruited by the military and trained as snipers - because they have no emotion and don't feel trauma in the field of war, they are good at this.

Hmmmm. Reading the part about their prevalence in child sexual abuse, all sympathy and curiousity vanished.

My non-PC take: the only good psychopath is a dead one. In ALL cases of child abuse, test them for psychopathy and if it comes up positive hang them or throw away the key. Gosh, no wonder paedophilia is seen as 'hard to treat'.

[Abitwobblynow]

Sorry, to continue mini-hijack I left out why I found it interesting: we bought a house off someone who behaved really.... like he was acting as though it was still his house and was telling us what to do, demanding access etc.

My friend said: he is a psychopath. I scoffed, don't be so silly. I mean, come on!! Psychopath. She had been destroyed in her M lives in poverty when she was the professional and he was the beach bum whilst he got her house the pension etc. she said: listen, I was married to one, I am telling you he is one. Rubbish, I said, he's got some outrageous boundaries, but psychopath that's a bit dramatic.
She proceeded to predict everything he was going to do next, and ... he did it. That got my attention. EVERY single demand, objection, assumption of ownership she said he would do, he did. She said: read this book. In it Stout says: don't argue, don't explain, don't even bother with social politeness. Look for the empty eyes, and the pointless lies (and they were there). So, next time he came round to tell us what we had to plant in the garden etc., I said to him 'I do not want to talk to you'. He stopped, turned round and walked away and we haven't seen him since.
Do you see that? The game ended so he stopped playing it. No hard feelings, no humiliation, no nothing.

Then a contractor came round to work near the boundary, and I said to him: do not engage with the previous owner at all, do not speak to him or explain what you are doing... Rubbish! he said... the outcome of it was, in his reasoning and appealing to the better side, he ended up doing a lot of unpaid work!!!!!... and found out I wasnt being dramatic or hysterical either! Now I am in the community I have heard that he badly, badly ripped off the widow of his previous partner who trusted him, and other things. Goes without saying I suppose he is very wealthy.

So whilst we were not hurt by him, others had been I have learned that yes psychopaths are not all axe murderers they are alive and well and living in an area near you.

Hope you don't mind a bit of wobbly gossip!!!

[dapplegrey]

OP - if your son is a Labour Party supporter why does he want to go to a public school? I thought the Labour Party was opposed to private education?
My question sounds rather aggressive - it's not meant to, I'm genuinely interested.
Unfortunately there is no way (that I know) of expressing tone of voice in print!

[peteneras]

'I thought the Labour Party was opposed to private education?'

Are they really???

[dapplegrey]

Peteneras - hmmm....... well they used to be. Maybe they aren't any longer. I know Diane Abbott and Alan Rusbridger and for all I know many others educated their children privately so maybe it's no longer an issue.

[Rache101]

Well Dapplegrey many Labour MP's etc have been educated privatly; Tony Blair went to the best school in Scotland; Ed balls went to a independant school in Nottingham. Wealth and Education should not determine your beliefs (unfortunatly they do) and my DS's belif is socialist and will (hopfully) not change

[qumquat]

Does he not have a problem with the concept of private schools though? A 'better' education for those who can afford to pay? 1 scholarship for 1 boy from the whole of Harrow borough? Again, I wish him all the best, I'm just intrigued how he squares this ambition with socialism.

I once worked for a day at Harrow and overheard a recent leaver (first year at university, back to visit) say: "Everyone could send their children to public school if they only worked for it". This struck me as a remarkably uneducated and naive thing to say, hopefully your son may open the other boys' eyes a little bit!

[Rache101]

Does anyone know anything about the Kane Family Scholarship?

[Rache101]

My DS took the Kane Scholarship exam today. He was the only person not sitting Maths, Chemistry and Biology! He said he did well in his chosen subjects (History, Goverment and Politics and English.) Do you know when we find out the results?

[Colleger]

Rachel, I don't think your going to get any info on MN. Phone the school and ask!

Good luck.

[peteneras]

If the school is anything like its nemesis in Windsor, you'll find out in less than 7 days. Forget about what subjects he took or didn't take now, if he had sat the exams then there is a fighting chance he may get it.

Sincerely goodluck to him and you!

[MollieO]

I thought that he already had a scholarship to Harrow according to your other thread?

[Happygardening]

Do let us know whether he gets it or not. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for him.

[Rache101]

MollieO, I was mistaken, he was offered a interview and exams, sorry for the confusion. What is the rough pass mark to attain a scholarship?

[bulletpoint]

Goodluck rache101 hope you hear good new soon.

[MollieO]

No idea what the pass mark would be but I would imagine it has to be high if you have to get at least 70% to even get in to Harrow. Good luck and I hope you're ds is successful.

[Colleger]

Rachel, you keep asking questions about a scholarship that no one knows anything about. All these questions should be directed to the school.