Eton is typical of many English public schools. For a start, it’s a boarding school, with 25 boys’ houses (each with a housemaster). The school is also very expensive – with fees of about £30,000 per year. As in many other public schools, pupils have to wear a school uniform. But Eton’s uniform is special, consisting of a black tailcoat (or morning coat), a waistcoat, and pinstriped trousers.
Like many other public schools, Eton once had a system of fags. Fags were younger boys who act as personal servants to more senior boys. “Fagging” jobs involved cleaning, cooking and running errands. The world-famous author Roald Dahl remembers being ordered to warm toilet seats for older boys at Repton School. Other chores included making toast, polishing shoes, ironing clothes and cleaning cups. The practice of personal fagging faded away during the 1970s and 1980s.
As in many other public schools, Eton was also famous for its use of corporal punishment. This often consisted of beatings with a cane or the twigs from a birch tree. In the 16th century, Friday at Eton was known as “flogging day”. Headmaster, John Keate (who held the position from 1809 to 1834) once flogged 80 boys publicly in one session. From 1970, boys were no longer required to take down their trousers for the beatings. In 1983, all forms of corporal punishment were phased out.
Eton has many unique traditions. The Eton Wall Game is a curious mixture of rugby and football played on a pitch 5 metres wide and 110 metres long next to a brick wall. Teams score by throwing a ball at a “goal”, which in this case is a garden door at one end and a tree at the other. No one had actually scored a goal since 1909 until Prince Harry managed to in 2002. Another game is “Eton Fives”. This is a type of handball game played as “doubles” (two teams of two) in a three-sided court.
The school also has a lot of its own words and expressions. Terms are known as “halves” – even though there are three a year. A class is called a “div”, and teachers are known as “beaks”. A “stick up” is the name of the winged collars that some pupils wear. Bad work is called a“rip” (because it is ripped up by the teacher), and good work is called a “show up”. A traditional form of pupil protest at Eton is called a “Leggit”. When pupils are unhappy about something at school, they gather around the school hall to protest, chanting until the teachers come out. Then, when the headmaster appears, one pupil shouts “Leggit” and all the pupils flee in different directions.
Are there any schools like this in your country?