Is it true that the public schools have produced the majority of our medal winners...

[sandyRoe]

...at the Olympics?
If we want even more medals at the next Olympics could we not introduce their methods of early training into all schools?

[Mick-Talbot]

Probably, due to the rowing.

I have asked my kids if any of them want to be , Cyclists or rowers


No......they want to be footballers.

[daffy654]

Many children who go to public schools have parents who can afford sports training and the equipment/travel expenses that sports people need, the rest of us can't afford any of that.

[Prudie]

Putting more emphasis back into PE and Games in the curriculum would help.

[gness]

So true Prudie. I witnessed the selling off of playing fields and the blasted new initiatives etc. pushing sport and P.E. onto the back burner.

[FredPuli43]

When Lord Moynihan was complaining, a few days ago, the private schools had provided half. May still be so, but it's no surprise. Public Schools have specialist professional coaches in different sports and they have facilities of the top standard; Eton Dorney is the rowing lake of Eton College, for goodness sake; plus they will allow talented pupils to skip lessons for training. And some sports are very much the interest of Public Schools or rich people who send their children to them (rowing, shooting and equestrianism, for example).

The odd thing is that any privately educated child is now a top cyclist. Would have thought that cycling, at least, would be for ordinary people.

State schools will never have what the private schools have because the money and the time cannot be afforded.But if we were like some totalitarian states, which throw money at sport and identify potential athletes from earliest youth, as part of a state programme, we'd certainly do better.

[Sqad]

Discipline, endeavour,stamina and fortitude......that is what the Public Schools teach and that is why the majority of medal winners are from this private education system.

Class distinction is still prevalent in the UK despite our "free" and "democratic " society. Tennis, golf, unless you are white, non Jewish and a professional person one is unlikely to succeed in these sports and for the same reason it is unlikely that the UK will have an Arthur Ashe or Tiger Woods. We critizise the US, but if they have a promising youngster, her will be sent to their equivalent of our Public School, and the method of payment will be worked out later.

We are still very class conscious in the UK despite protests to the opposite.

[sandyRoe]

Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton. I suppose it's no surprise that a good part of our haul of gold is now being gathered on their boating lake

[gness]

Discipline, endeavour, stamina and fortitude can be taught and encouraged without money but isn`t in our state schools.
Not all public school children come from rich families. We scrimped to send our second to a private school because we despaired at what was happening in the state system....where I worked. She helped by winning a scholarship and I have never regretted the sacrifice.

[FredPuli43]

It may be added that some Public Schools have built a reputation for sport, so are the best among the best. An ambitious sporty parent with a child who may prove equally sporty, would send the child to a school like Millfield or Gordonstoun, where sporting endeavour and physical exercise come very high in the curriculum, almost to the exclusion of everything else. (Poor Prince Charles was sent to Gordonstoun. He must have hated it !)

[tamborine]

There are bursories at Eton & most pub schools for promising children who fit the curriculum.

http://www.etoncolleg...rsaryinformation.aspx

[Prudie]

Yes but when I was at state school we had PE and Games at least 4 times a week and the opportunty for all team sports, athletics, gymnastics, swimming, tennis etc etc plus the PE staff gave up Saturdays for matches (which may happen now still??). Anyway my point is any potential sportsperson would have had the opportunity to be noticed and nurtured. As gness said, my old school playing fields are now a housing estate.

[FredPuli43]

gness, that is true of some state schools, but strong character is a lot to do with parental influence and genetics too. And I think that there are other reasons for some parents. The greater part of Public School parents did not go to Public School themselves, but it won't have escaped their notice that connections and what used to be called ' the old school tie' are still useful. The Public School pupil meets others whose parents are well connected or important in our society and these school friendships form a very useful network for him or her in later life.

[Sqad]

tambo...indeed, but it is a little more complicated than that as to how our "gifted individual" would "fit in" at Eton coming from, shall we say , the backstreets of Sheffield, from a working class family and even more precarious how he would cope with returning to his "mates" at half term, with his posh accent.
Socio-economic considerations play a large part and many, if not all the bursaries are given to middle class families.

I remember some years ago a black boy or girl from a poor London region and background was given a scholarship to Millfield as a sort of....experiment........it didn't work.

The grammar schools of yesteryear were ideal for the poor bright boy, but sadly they fell into Political disrepute.

[gness]

Although not the reason in our case for private education sadly you are right Fred as is Sqad with his example of the black child at Millfied.
We had a few problems because we chose to pay, mainly with my colleagues. The education she received is what I believe state schools should offer (and could...it`s not all about money) and what she would have received in the days of Grammar schools where children and teachers aimed for the best.

[tamborine]

sqad, the parent whose child qualifies for a bursory will soon cope with 'class' pressures. The days of doffing caps are waaaaaaaaaay past.

[Sqad]

tambo.....it wasn't the parent i was worried about................it was the child.

[tamborine]

Children are resilient when on their chosen track.

MT - they do football.....it's all about gleening awards for the school.

[FredPuli43]

And the British have acute antennae for differences in accent, vocabulary, and manner. Our daughter (Public School) amazed me by claiming to know and distinguish the speech of boys from different Public Schools and she wasn't talking about school slang, either. And it's an old joke that you could tell Public School boys apart when a woman came into the room. The Harrovian offered her a chair, the Wykehamist fetched it and the Etonian promptly sat on it.

With nuances like that in life, a complete outsider at the school might find it difficult. Still, the embarrassment might be more his than theirs. Unlike the middle range, the wealthy don't feel a need to boast about possessions or expense, and also children are very quick to adapt and fit in.

[Sqad]

Fred.....LOL