Read the text and complete the tasks below.What is it like at Eton
College?
Eton College has been teaching
the sons of the great, good and plain rich for the past 565 years.
Founded by King Henry VI, it has
grown to a school of 1,290 boys aged 13 to 18, charging fees of more than
£20,000 a year.
It has 18 British prime
ministers, including the Duke of Wellington, Horace Walpole and Harold
MacMillan, among its former pupils. Writers George Orwell, Henry Fielding,
Aldous Huxley, Percy Shelley and Ian Fleming also attended the college.
High grades
Eton, near Windsor Castle in
Berkshire, sets the highest academic standards, with almost all of its pupils
going on to university, around a third of them to Oxford or Cambridge. Boys,
selected by competitive examination, get their own study-bedroom and join a
"house" with about 50 other members. Class sizes range from 10 to 20
and students spend time discussing their studies with personal tutors.
In a recent report, the
Independent Schools Inspectorate notes: "Eton College provides an
exceptionally good quality of education for all its pupils. They achieve high
academic standards as a result of stimulating teaching, challenging
expectations and first-class resources.” Last year, 91.5% of A-level entries
were awarded grades A and B. Previously, Prince Harry gained B and D grades in
art and geography, while Prince William achieved an A in geography, a B in
history of art and a C in biology.
Waistcoats and buttons
According to the report, "the boarding
houses and tutorial arrangements provide excellent care and the range of
intellectual, cultural and sporting activities helps pupils to develop into
thoughtful, confident and responsible young adults.” Societies range from
astronomy to Scottish dancing and stamp-collecting. Indeed, Eton's pupils
benefit from facilities rarely seen in other schools. Nearby Dorney rowing lake
is recognised as one of the best in the world, while dramatic productions are
put on in a 400-seat theatre. The famous
Eton Wall Game is an aggressive form of football in which hardly anyone ever
scores. In fact, Prince Harry distinguished himself by doing so in 2002.
Eton's quirky jargon is virtually
indecipherable to the outsider. Cricketers are known as "dry bobs",
rowers as "wet bobs", while "slack bobs" do neither. Lessons
are officially called "schools" while the boys call them "divs". The
teachers are "beaks". The uniform is no easier to understand either. Pupils
wear a white tie that is effectively a strip of cloth folded over into the
collar, apart from those appointed to positions of responsibility, who wear a
white bow-tie. Their status is indicated by different colours of waistcoat,
trousers or buttons.Adapted from : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/4634031.stm