Eton College, UK

Ming Zhen ying LUN

Eton College, a famous English school, was founded by King Henry VI in 1860. It is known as "the cradle of gentlemen". This school named "Public School" is actually a private middle school. At the beginning of the school, Henry VI named it "public school" with the original intention of letting poor children enter the school. Unexpectedly, the children of the royal family and nobles entered the school one after another, forming an aristocratic atmosphere, which deterred the children of Shu Ren, so it became a school with a strict family background and was only open to the children of nobles.

The students it recruits are all boys from 12 to 18, and they learn from it to prepare for college. Tuition is surprisingly expensive, nearly 10 thousand pounds a year (excluding room and board) It is said that one in every boy in Britain can go to an ordinary public school, and only one in every boy will go to Eton College.

Many children of the British royal family study at Eton College. Prince Charles is a graduate of this school. The Duke of Wellington, a British naval star, is also from Eton College. There are 17 prime ministers in Britain, and 36 dignitaries have won the Victoria Cross (the highest medal of honor for bravery in Britain), all of whom are graduates of this school.

Some famous families in Britain, in order to let their children go to Eton College, when a boy is born and gets a "birth certificate", they sign up for school and wander around 12 years old, and then enter school on this basis.

Ancient universities, gradual reform

Eton College is an ancient university located in Buckinghamshire. The school building has been expanded many times, with more than 1000 student accommodation places. School discipline is famous for its strictness. The subjects are deeper than ordinary middle schools, and students must read classical literature. In recent years, Eaton has caught up with the world trend and attached great importance to mathematics, physics and language. It has the right to have a large physical and chemical laboratory and a modern language lab, and students must learn a foreign language at the same time.

In the past, some schools in Britain were single-sex schools, but in the early years, they were all co-educational. Only Eaton kept the boys' school system unchanged.

For nearly 20 years, this school has been managed by Eric Anderson, a scot. He is full of reform spirit and makes the old campus full of vitality.

The high tuition fees at Eton College make children from poor families daunting. Eric attaches importance to the education of talents. His first reform is to set up special grants to reward outstanding students who are diligent and eager to learn and can't afford tuition fees. The second reform is to open to foreign students to enhance Eaton's international image. At present, 50 students in this school are foreigners. The third reform is that senior students can choose Russian. Recently, Sumitomo Bank of Japan donated a fund of 1 10,000 pounds to the school, and I believe that the school will soon add Japanese subjects.

Although Eton College has undergone the baptism of years, the campus is still beautiful, and those ancient school buildings and teaching still stand tall. Students still play with wooden balls on the grassy lawn, or wear19th century gentleman's clothes-black tuxedo with white turtleneck shirt. It is said that this is the mourning dress of King George III. However, students' lives are gradually changing. In this century, the traditional black top hat has been removed from students' heads. Since last year, students can wander around the town in jeans after school.

Student temperament: conceit or confidence?

Eton College has always advertised that cultivating students' self-confidence is one of its goals. If you talk to some prominent figures in British upper class, you will find that they all owe the foundation of their character formation to Eton College. For example, Daley, a British Labour MP who was a student at Eton College, recalled his study at Eton College and said that from the first day of school, he understood that everything should be valuable for his own ideas. Although they are all teenagers of thirteen or fourteen years old, they are all edified to dare to compete with authority.

Dai Liye said: "Once I was beaten by a boy named Rafe and went to my tutor to complain. My tutor asked me to question Rafe immediately. But when I went upstairs and shouted at him, Rafe replied slowly,' All right-but it doesn't hurt to keep that guy waiting! "'

In the eyes of ordinary British people, this "self-confidence model of contempt for authority" cited by Daley is regarded as the conceit of Eton students. Some people say that Eton is a famous school, and students have their own distinctive temperament. These students, at a young age, are superior to others, and they are easy to identify even in school uniforms. In this regard, Eton students do not agree. They think that after Eton's education and training, they have real talents and practical learning, and they stand up in a special style. Therefore, this is a sign of full confidence.

A grand school celebration

Eton College also has a celebration that can almost be compared with major British festivals, that is, the opening ceremony of Eton College on June 4th every year. On this day, elegant and chic teenagers are dressed in black evening dresses, with blue carnations or peony flowers dotted on the collar holes on their chests, gracefully leading their parents to review the exhibition of students' learning achievements, visiting Thanksgiving Mass, and then watching the spectacular scenery of Eton College's fleet on the Thames. Many congressmen, dukes, graduates from famous schools often attend the school celebration, and sometimes the queen, prince and queen mother also attend the ceremony.

This fleet, recorded as early as 2000, always sets out at sunrise in the morning. There are eight young dancers on each boat, wearing white trousers, striped shirts and blue garck hats decorated with roses and lilacs. They are rowing slowly along the coast accompanied by "Eton Boat". From time to time, they will look at the stability of the water flow, stand up one by one, erect wooden paddles, and occasionally wave flower caps to signal to the audience by the river. This scene is really romantic, but the fly in the ointment is that the Thames is so fierce and unpredictable that I don't know how many boys have been capsized and drowned in the past 200 years. In order to make up for this regret, the headmaster stipulated that people who want to join the fleet must learn to swim first. Every year, it seems that only this time can parents see their beloved son who lives in school all the year round. Parents look at their children's elegant and romantic temperament and seem to be satisfied with the high tuition fees paid every year.