Day8 education

Day 8 Topic: Education Speaking of schools, when the English say public, we say private. The famous public schools of England are run by private governing bodies, charge tuition, take students from throughout the nation, and admit only a chosen few. In America, they would be private schools. But the English speak of them as public because they serve the public welfare, educating the elite of the nation, and because they had their beginnings as endowed public charities, educating children who were too poor to have private tutors.

What is a public school?

A public school, in common English and Welsh usage, is a prestigious school for children usually between the ages of 11 or 13 and 18. Public schools charge fees and are not financed by the state. Some of their income may be derived from endowments, perhaps in the form of rent paid on property given to the school at some time in the past. By contrast, a government-maintained school, where instruction is provided free of charge, is called a state school.

The English use of the te rm “public school” is the exact opposite to what an English speaker outside of England and Wales might expect. In countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, the United States of America and Canada, a “public school” is the equivalent of an English“state school”, while an independent, fee-charging school is called a “private school”.

Origin

. Some public schools are very old, such as Westminster (founded 1179), Eton (1440), St. Paul's (1509), which has maintained the longest unbroken history of any school in England. These schools were often established as charitable institutions for male scholars from poor or disadvantaged backgrounds. Although the scholars’ education was free, the schools sometimes charged for lodging or clothing and, in due course, they came to offer fee paying places for other pupils who were not being supported by the charity, so becoming “public” schools because they were open to those who could afford to pay.

Most public schools, however, developed during the 18th and 19th centuries, and came to play an important role in the development of the Victorian social elite. Under a number of forward-looking headmasters, leading public schools created a curriculum based heavily on classics and physical activity for boys and young men of the upper and upper middle classes. 19th century educational reforms were particularly important under Dr Thomas Arnold at Rugby, and Samuel Butler and later Benjamin Hall Kennedy at Shrewsbury, emphasizing the importance of scholarship and competitive examinations as well as teamwork. The Reverend Edward Thring, head of Uppingham School, is credited with founding the Headmasters’ Conference and was a great reformer. He emphasized not only the importance of the individual and of competitive spirit, but he also recognised and promoted the value of an all-round curriculum incorporating sport and the arts along with academic studies.

It was the nephew of Edward Thring, Charles Henry Meredith Thring, who became a partner with John Gabbitas in the Gabbitas-Thring Scholastic Agency, founded in London in 1873.

In the early years, public schools always had clergymen as headmasters but, by 1924, Winchester, Rugby, Marlborough and Charterhouse had all appointed laymen as head.

Public schools were the backbone of the gentlemanly elite of Victorian politics, armed forces and colonial government. Successful businessmen would often send their sons to public school as a mark of participation in the elite. Much of the discipline was (and still is) in the hands of senior pupils, usually known as prefects, not just as a means to reduce staffing costs, but such

responsibility also formed vital preparation for those pupils' later roles as leaders in public or military service. To an extent, the public school system influenced the school systems of the whole British empire, and schools modeled on “public” schools can be found in many Commonwealth countries. Many prep schools in the United States (such as Groton School) are also recognizably “public” in the British sense

Difference

The private schools cost you money, and sometimes don't participate in public school events.

Public schools are for everyone, for anyone to come and be educated. It doesn’t cost you anything to receive education from Public schools. Grammar schools have a similarity to Public schools - you don't have to pay school fees. But Grammar schools are selective, for extra-brainy people. You may have to take a special entrance exam or something to get in.

Schools in the UK & USA

Public School (UK)

A public school, in common British usage, is a school that charges fees and is financed by bodies other than the state, commonly as a private charitable trust. (The US usage of the term is Publicly Funded Schools.) In British usage, a government-run school (which would be called a 'public school' in other areas, such as the United States) is called a State School.

Whether the term public school can be applied to all of the several thousand independent schools in the UK is a matter for debate. Whilst some schools openly declare themselves to be public schools, (possibly to attract foreign students), others prefer to be called Independent schools The term 'public' was adopted from the Public Schools Act 1868 and refers to the fact that the school is open to the paying public, as opposed to, for example, a religious school open only to those part of a certain church, or private education at home (usually only practical for the very wealthy who could afford tutors).

In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools primarily funded by tuition, endowment or charitable donations and not through public means.

Independent school (UK)

An independent school in the United Kingdom is a school that is not financed through the taxation system by local or national government, and is instead funded by private sources, predominantly in the form of tuition charges, gifts and long-term charitable endowments, and so not subject to the conditions of "maintained status" imposed by accepting state financing.

Some independent schools, especially some well-established boys' boarding schools, are often referred to as "public schools" because they are founded or endowed for public use and subject to public management or control; by contrast private schools are run for the profit of the proprietor. The use of the term Public School more specifically for a small number of schools is derived from the few schools reformed by the Public Schools Acts, but the term is also used for independent schools generally, and especially those that are members of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.

There are now more than 2,500 independent schools in the UK, educating some 615,000 children, or some 7% of children throughout the country.

Most of the larger independent schools are either full or partial boarding schools, although many are now predominantly day schools; by contrast there are only a few dozen state boarding schools. Boarding-school traditions generally give a distinctive character to most UK independent education, even in the case of day-pupils.

Most independent schools, particularly the larger and older institutions, have charitable status. It is claimed by the Independent Schools Council that UK independent schools receive approximately ￡100m tax relief due to charitable status whilst returning ￡300m of fee assistance in public benefit and relieving the maintained sector (state schools) of ￡2bn of costs. The Charity Commission is currently formulating tests of public benefit for charitable schools as required by the Charities Act 2006.

State school/ public school (USA)

State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools, are schools mandated for or offered to all children by the government, whether national, regional, or local, provided by an institution of civil government, and paid for, in whole or in part, by State taxes.

In the United States, the term "state school" is colloquial for state university, a college or university in a state university system. The term "public school" is used for primary and secondary schools which are funded and/or run by a governmental entity.

Public schools in the United States are administered at the federal level by the United States Department of Education, at the state level by state education agencies, and at the local level by local education agencies. Most states employ this three-tiered model of educational governance. There is usually a state superintendent of schools, who is elected to coordinate the state department of education, the state board of education, and the state legislature itself. Statewide education policies are disseminated to school "districts" or their equivalents. These are associated with counties, or with groups of counties; but their boundaries are not necessarily coterminous with county boundaries. These intermediate school districts comprise many local (city- or township-level) school districts.

In most states, the county and regional "intermediate" school districts and their boards implement state education policy, and provide the channels through which a local district communicates with a state-level board of education, superintendent and department of education.

Local school districts are administered by local school boards, which operate public primary and secondary schools within their boundaries. Since public schools are funded by taxpayers, members of school boards are democratically elected to represent the public's interest. The authority of school boards is limited to taxpayer-funded schools. Therefore, schools which receive no taxpayer funding, including privately-funded, parochial (religiously-affiliated) and home schools are not required to abide by school-board policies. (Home schooling laws vary from state to state.) Public schools are provided mainly by local governments. Curricula, funding, teaching, and other policies are set through locally elected school boards by jurisdiction over school districts. The school districts are special-purpose districts authorized by provisions of state law. Generally, state governments can and do set minimum standards relating to almost all activities of primary and secondary schools, as well as funding and authorization to enact local school taxes to support the schools—primarily through real property taxes. The federal government funds aid to states and school districts that meet minimum federal standards. School accreditation decisions are made by voluntary regional associations. The first free public school in America was the Syms-Eaton Academy (1634) in Hampton, Virginia, while the first tax-supported public school in America was in Dedham, Massachusetts. In the United States, 88% of students attend public schools, compared

with 9% who attend parochial schools, 1% who attend private independent schools, and 2% who are home-schooled.

Public school is normally split up into three stages: elementary school (kindergarten to 5th or 6th grade), middle ("intermediate" or junior high school) from 5th or 6th grade to 8th or 9th grade, and high school (9th to 12th grade).

In the United States, institutions of higher education that are operated and subsidized by U.S. states are also referred to as "public." However, unlike public secondary schools, public universities charge tuition, though these fees are usually much lower than those charged by private universities, particularly for "in-state" students. Community colleges, state colleges, and state universities are examples of public institutions of higher education. In particular, many state universities are regarded as among the best institutions of higher education in the U.S., though usually they are surpassed in ranking by certain private universities and colleges, such as those of the Ivy League, which are often very expensive and extremely selective in the students they accept. In several states, the administrations of public universities are elected via the general electoral ballot.