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>In England and Wales private schools are confusingly known as “public schools” This is flat out wrong and I'm amazed to see it written in a British publicatio

>In England and Wales private schools are confusingly known as “public schools” This is flat out wrong and I'm amazed to see it written in a British publication. There are plenty of definitions of what a "public school" is but I've never previously heard of anyone suggesting that it's just a private school. I'm not going to get into how you define a public school but most people would agree these are : Charterhouse; Eton; Harrow; Rugby; Shrewsbury; Westminster; and Winchester, and that while there might be one or two other contenders there certainly aren't many. Just to be clear there are many hundreds of private schools in the UK besides these few. If you're interested to know more the wikipedia page for Public Schools https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_school_(United_Kingdom) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_school_(United_Kingdom) gives the background, in particular the passage relating to the Clarendon Commission. EDIT: Changed "is is" to "is".

gweinberg 5y ago
It's confusing to Americans. To us, "public school" means "government school". We are also confused by "public house".
- jaclaz 5y ago
  I would say that it is confusing to anyone else apart the people from the UK, "public" is usually understood as "public" (as opposed to "private").
  - mdp2021 5y ago
    "Public [School in England]" = "Publicly accessible, (in general) open to people [ - anyone can enrol]" In other cases, "Public [entity]" = "paid by the people".
- Lio 5y ago
  It's deliberately so and used as an in group marker. There are also complex unwritten rules governing dress, speech and general manors that serve the same purpose. There are some job interviews you better not turn up to wearing the wrong colour shoes or shirt. Personally, I blame the Normans.
  - motogpjimbo 5y ago
    > It's deliberately so [confusing] This is not true. Public schools pre-date modern state schools and what made them "public", by the original definition, was that they were open to any child - provided that their parents could afford the fees. Other private schools at the time were open only to the children of parents who met certain criteria, and hence were not "public".
- BrandoElFollito 5y ago
  It is confusing for everyone outside the UK. When learning English in France, you are taught about these British naming quite early and it is always a surprise for the children. It is not even that there are specific needles for theses schools, rather the fact that a public school is not for the public.
bifftastic 5y ago
You should not be downvoted as you are correct. While all UK schools known as "public schools" are private, most private schools are not public schools. You are right that what constitutes a public school is hard to define, but I think membership of the Headmasters and Headmistress' Conference is the usual definition.
DocKitKat 5y ago
Your link seems to give quite a few similar definitions of what a public school is, but both colloquially and from a government perspective it seems to be that they should meet: Non-local, fee-paying, expensive, endowed, boarding, selective and non-profit. The side-effect of this is that they were traditionally reserved for the male children of elites. The boarding requirement seems to be weaker, as two day schools (St Paul’s and Merchant Taylor’s) are listed as part of the nine “major” public schools. However, the working definition given in the Wikipedia article, and definition used by the British government for the Public Schools Commission means that there are almost 300 “public” schools in England and Wales . Your list is supported as being part of the “major” public schools AKA Clarendon schools: ‘Today, while the hierarchical distinction is less commonly used, only the "Great Nine" public schools of England – Eton, Harrow, Winchester, Charterhouse, Merchant Taylors', Westminster, Shrewsbury, Rugby and St Paul's – are referred to as "major"[citation needed] on account of this historical association. Schools outside this group are referred to as "minor"[citation needed], irrespective of contemporary influence’ Citations are missing for that paragraph however, all throughout the article it’s made clear there are certainly a few hundred public schools, and not just a handful. For instance, the link to the HMC page, of which membership seems to be more or less a good rule of them for a school being “public” : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headmasters%27_and_Headmistresses%27_Conference https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headmasters%27_and_Headmistr... Colloquially I do know that boys who attended Eton only acknowledge 3 or so other public schools, but the general public does have a broader definition. Nonetheless have a few hundred is still substantially less than the thousands which exist across England and Wales.

gweinberg 5y ago

It's confusing to Americans. To us, "public school" means "government school". We are also confused by "public house".

jaclaz 5y ago
I would say that it is confusing to anyone else apart the people from the UK, "public" is usually understood as "public" (as opposed to "private").
- mdp2021 5y ago
  "Public [School in England]" = "Publicly accessible, (in general) open to people [ - anyone can enrol]" In other cases, "Public [entity]" = "paid by the people".
Lio 5y ago
It's deliberately so and used as an in group marker. There are also complex unwritten rules governing dress, speech and general manors that serve the same purpose. There are some job interviews you better not turn up to wearing the wrong colour shoes or shirt. Personally, I blame the Normans.
- motogpjimbo 5y ago
  > It's deliberately so [confusing] This is not true. Public schools pre-date modern state schools and what made them "public", by the original definition, was that they were open to any child - provided that their parents could afford the fees. Other private schools at the time were open only to the children of parents who met certain criteria, and hence were not "public".
BrandoElFollito 5y ago
It is confusing for everyone outside the UK. When learning English in France, you are taught about these British naming quite early and it is always a surprise for the children. It is not even that there are specific needles for theses schools, rather the fact that a public school is not for the public.

bifftastic 5y ago

You should not be downvoted as you are correct. While all UK schools known as "public schools" are private, most private schools are not public schools. You are right that what constitutes a public school is hard to define, but I think membership of the Headmasters and Headmistress' Conference is the usual definition.

DocKitKat 5y ago

Your link seems to give quite a few similar definitions of what a public school is, but both colloquially and from a government perspective it seems to be that they should meet: Non-local, fee-paying, expensive, endowed, boarding, selective and non-profit. The side-effect of this is that they were traditionally reserved for the male children of elites. The boarding requirement seems to be weaker, as two day schools (St Paul’s and Merchant Taylor’s) are listed as part of the nine “major” public schools. However, the working definition given in the Wikipedia article, and definition used by the British government for the Public Schools Commission means that there are almost 300 “public” schools in England and Wales . Your list is supported as being part of the “major” public schools AKA Clarendon schools: ‘Today, while the hierarchical distinction is less commonly used, only the "Great Nine" public schools of England – Eton, Harrow, Winchester, Charterhouse, Merchant Taylors', Westminster, Shrewsbury, Rugby and St Paul's – are referred to as "major"[citation needed] on account of this historical association. Schools outside this group are referred to as "minor"[citation needed], irrespective of contemporary influence’ Citations are missing for that paragraph however, all throughout the article it’s made clear there are certainly a few hundred public schools, and not just a handful. For instance, the link to the HMC page, of which membership seems to be more or less a good rule of them for a school being “public” : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headmasters%27_and_Headmistresses%27_Conference https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headmasters%27_and_Headmistr... Colloquially I do know that boys who attended Eton only acknowledge 3 or so other public schools, but the general public does have a broader definition. Nonetheless have a few hundred is still substantially less than the thousands which exist across England and Wales.