The Most Famous Name in Schools
Twenty or so boys dressed in white tie and tails are being taught by Liam Maxwell today at Eton College, the exclusive boys’ school 35 km west of London. For centuries Eton – founded in 1440 – has been synonymous with privilege, the place where British elite is given its polish and an air of entitlement. But this class doesn’t feel like a hothouse for languid aristocrats. The boys are not learning Latin but staring into computer screens, trying to master the database program Microsoft Access. Though a student once told Maxwell that typing was something he could leave to his daddy’s secretary, the school insists that all first-year students learn to type, so that they can use their mandatory laptops on the network that links every classroom and bedroom to teaching resources and the Internet. The project the boys are working on would probably not be the first choice at one of Britain’s state schools – their databases are portfolios of fictional shares they manage during the term to see who can make the most money. But Maxwell, who arrived two years ago after running the IT department of a large recruiting firm, has no patience for the self-pleased. “I tell them that 30% of them are going to work for a Chinese or Indian company,” he says. “They are going to be judged by what they can do, not where they come from.” For years, many of modern Britain’s proud meritocrats have thought of Eton as a four-letter word, a generator of snobs who didn’t deserve yet another benefit from a nation that had long awarded life’s glittering prizes to those who were lucky enough to have been born to land, money, privilege or all three. But Eton is having a makeover. It’s trying to marry its five-century experience of educating adolescent boys to the spirit of less hierarchical, more competitive, more globalized Britain, and its effort is bearing fruit. If it plays its cards right – especially if it can open its doors not just to the very bright sons of the wealthy but to the brightest boys there are, anywhere – Eton has a decent shot at becoming the nursery for a 21st century (male) elite. All in all, it’s a good time for Eton. But is what’s good for Eton good for Britain? For all its recent economic and cultural success, Britain has not left all the wounds of class division behind it. Contrary to popular belief, social mobility in the country has stalled. The absolute number of white-collar jobs is rising, but research shows that the chance of getting from the bottom 10% of society to the top 10% is dropping. Reports released by the Sutton Trust show that the privately educated retain a powerful, indeed growing, hold on many influential jobs. Even though they educate only 7% of secondary school children, private schools are responsible for 68% of barristers, 42% of top politicians and 54% of leading journalists. Eton has only a handful of true competitors at the top of the private-school heap, plenty of money and applicants, and it has honed its procedure to identify the smartest boys. A school this old knows a few things about adapting to the times – so Eton is embarking on a campaign to offer more financial aid. Already 13% of boys receive help because their parents can’t afford to pay $44,000 a year in fees (Harvard costs nearly the same). Outside the school, the best test of its success comes from fair-minded observers. “If Eton were a business, it would have opened 20 more and be expanding the brand everywhere,” says Geoff Mulgan, previously head of Blair’s Policy Unit. Other schools are doing just that. But Eton’s leaders do not aspire to build an empire. Their goal is to preserve quality, reform slowly, and set an example that others will want to follow. Eton’s principal says that his friends who are state-school headmasters “tend to be rather pleased that places like Eton exist. They are a point of reference for what you can do if you have the money.” He has a point; it is unlikely that Britain would be hurt if all schools aspired to teach and treat their students with the same respect as Eton displays. Those who graduate from Eton will always have a good start in life. But they need not be snobs. And, as the school has a big chance to prove, they need not all be privileged when they show up. (From ‘Time’ June 26, 2006, abridged)
V Now read the article carefully, find the following words and learn their meaning. Make it a particular point to use these words in the further overall discussion of the problem. To master smth (a program), to deserve smth, to award a prize to smb, all in all, contrary to smth, to abolish smth, an applicant, financial aid, to set an example, to have a point (He has a point.), to treat smb with respect
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