Hello again,
Unlike Beard, I must say, I cannot recall a sense of entitlement or the feeling that everything was a big game back in those far off days. As a young lad 62 years ago, my first impression of my public school was that the size of the grounds and buildings were rather overwhelming and I was unsurprisingly full of trepidation. As I had been a boarder at prep school, I was used to being away from home, unlike some of the other boys. We actually thought some of the eldest boys were masters, they were so much older than us.
We were told by staff and parents that we were fortunate to be at such a school, but entitlement never came into it. Of course, over the years, one came across some obnoxious boys, but they may well have been obnoxious whatever type of school they went to and are probably obnoxious old gits nowadays. As for everything being a big game, I just don’t see this at all. Our school was pretty austere and certainly didn’t engender a big game ethos.
I know Beard went to school after me, but in my day, it was quite possible for middle class parents to afford the fees to schools like mine and many of those parents themselves were not ‘entitled ‘ types, perhaps that reflected on us. Nowadays, public schools are largely the preserve of the wealthy due to the massive increase in fees, even taking into account inflation. Middle class parents such as mine have been priced out. I have no connection with today’s public school pupils so I have no idea if they have a sense of entitlement or not.
Anyway, I survived and hope I have been a good citizen, husband and father.
As I said previously, the day I left school was one of the best days of my life and I embraced the freedom and quickly shook off the oppressive shackles of life as a boarder at public school. Life skills were there to be learnt and girls were to be discovered…….
I began to live, at last.
Hello again,
Unlike Beard, I must say, I cannot recall a sense of entitlement or the feeling that everything was a big game back in those far off days. As a young lad 62 years ago, my first impression of my public school was that the size of the grounds and buildings were rather overwhelming and I was unsurprisingly full of trepidation. As I had been a boarder at prep school, I was used to being away from home, unlike some of the other boys. We actually thought some of the eldest boys were masters, they were so much older than us.
We were told by staff and parents that we were fortunate to be at such a school, but entitlement never came into it. Of course, over the years, one came across some obnoxious boys, but they may well have been obnoxious whatever type of school they went to and are probably obnoxious old gits nowadays. As for everything being a big game, I just don’t see this at all. Our school was pretty austere and certainly didn’t engender a big game ethos.
I know Beard went to school after me, but in my day, it was quite possible for middle class parents to afford the fees to schools like mine and many of those parents themselves were not ‘entitled ‘ types, perhaps that reflected on us. Nowadays, public schools are largely the preserve of the wealthy due to the massive increase in fees, even taking into account inflation. Middle class parents such as mine have been priced out. I have no connection with today’s public school pupils so I have no idea if they have a sense of entitlement or not.
Anyway, I survived and hope I have been a good citizen, husband and father.
As I said previously, the day I left school was one of the best days of my life and I embraced the freedom and quickly shook off the oppressive shackles of life as a boarder at public school. Life skills were there to be learnt and girls were to be discovered…….
I began to live, at last.
