Jesse - what time period were the books set? There's Raffles, but he was very early 20th Century. Any other clues?
Hee! I can't believe anyone picked this up! I think it was kind of contemporary, maybe mid 20th C? Really, I think if I asked my parents, they'd know who I was talking about, but I keep forgetting.
Jesse, you should ask in the lit thread. Someone there will know. They're kind of scary that way.
Entirely random question: why are public schools in the UK called "public"? I'm reading something that's comparing the educational systems in the UK and the US, and it keeps having to specify whether it means the American meaning of "public" or the British one, so now I'm getting curious about how the UK and US ended up with two such contradictory meanings for the same term.
Because British public schools aren't public, they are private, I believe...
Because UK public schools are open for anyone who want to pay for them, I believe, was the logic?
Because British public schools aren't public, they are private, I believe...
Which is my question. Why are they called "public"? What were they being differentiated from?
As comparision to US public schools, which were publically funded
As comparision to US public schools, which were publically funded
I'm not sure what you're getting at here. I'm pretty sure they've been called public schools since long before the US had a public school system (probably since long before there was a US.) What I'm asking is, what other sort of school was around back then that they had to call places like Eton "public schools" rather than just "schools," and what differentiated them from those others that made "public" the logical choice of term?
Schools that required a certain social standing to attend, rather than being open to those who have the funds. No sons of wealthly merchants in those schools, for instance...
What I'm asking is, what other sort of school was around back then that they had to call places like Eton "public schools" rather than just "schools," and what differentiated them from those others that made "public" the logical choice of term?
The alternative, I have always assumed, was a personal tutor.