Text 2 Private sector in the uk

By the year of 2000 approximately 9 per cent of the school population attended independent fee-paying schools. The recovery of private education in Great Britain is partly due to the middle-class fears concerning comprehensive schools, but also to the mediocre quality possible in the state sector after decades of inadequate funding.

Although the percentage of those privately educated may be a small fraction of the total, it accounts for 23 per cent of all those passing A levels, and over 25 per cent of those gaining entry to the university. Pupils leaving fee-paying schools show greater improvement in their examination results than those at state schools. In later life, those educated at fee-paying schools dominate the sources of state power and authority in government, law the armed forces and finance. The ‘public’ (in fact private, fee-paying) schools form the backbone of the independent sector. Of the several hundred public schools, the most famous are Winchester (founded in 1382), Eton (1440), St. Paul’s (1509), Shrewsbury (1552), Westminster (1560), The Merchant Tailors’ (1561), Rugby (1567), Harrow (1571) and Charterhouse (1611). Their status lies in a fatally attractive combination of social superiority and antiquity, as the dates of their foundation indicate.

The golden age of the public schools, however, was the late nineteenth century, when most were founded. They were vital to the establishment of a particular set of values in the dominant professional middle classes with the emphasis on the making of gentlemen to enter one of the professions: law, medicine, the Church, the Civil Service or the colonial service rather than a carrier in commerce or ‘mere money making’. As a result of such values the public school system was traditional and deeply resistant to science and technology. Most public schools were located in the ‘timeless’ countryside away from the vulgarity of industrial cities.

Demand for public school education is so great that many schools register pupils’ names at birth. Eton maintains two lists, one for the children of ‘old boys’, another for outsiders. There are three applicants for every vacancy. The academic year of 2007-2008 at Eton cost $54,000 or €39,000. Boarding fees double that figure. Many of those parents who would like to send their children to such schools cannot afford that.

In order to obtain a place at a public school, children must take a competitive examination called ‘Common Entrance’. In order to pass it, most children, destined for a public school education, attend a preparatory (or ‘prep’) school until the age of 13.

There can be no doubt that public schools provide better academic education. But the argument that parents will not wish to pay once state schools offer equally good education is misleading, because independent schools offer social status also. The background from which pupils come greatly affects the encouragement they receive to study. State-maintained schools must operate with fewer resources, and in more difficult circumstances, particularly in low-income areas. In addition the public school system creams off many of the ablest teachers from the state sector.

One radical Conservative politician argued for turning public schools into centers of excellence which would admit children solely on ability, regardless of wealth or social background, with the help of government funding. It would be a way of using the best of the private sector for the nation as a whole.

(adapted from http://rudocs.exdat.com/docs/index-148646.html?page=32, Аракин В.Д. Практический курс английского языка 3 курс, стр. 94 and Paul Harvey and Rhodri Jones Britain Explored, p. 62)

Task 10. Work in pairs or mini-groups, use the information from the text to

answer the following questions:

1. What is the percentage of pupils graduating from private schools?

2. Why are the private schools called public?

3. What are the best private school in the UK?

4. What professions do usually the graduates of private schools get?

5. What kind of people go to a public school?

6. What are the 2 lists of Eton?

7. What do children pass to get a place at a public school?

8. Do public schools provide better education? Give facts to support your opinion.

9. What would be the best way of using the private sector?

Task 11. Look through the text 2. Find the words having similar meaning:

1. roughly, almost -

2. of only average quality; not very good –

3. a tiny amount or proportion –

4. the chief support of a system or organization –

5. absolutely necessary –

6. person who makes a formal application for something -

8. an unoccupied position –

9. a person's education, experience, and social circumstances –

10. only –

Task 12. Match the words to make the phrases. Give your own examples:

Inadequate

Fatally

Golden

Colonial

Deeply

Boarding

Competitive

Preparatory

Equally

Social

Low-income

Ablest

School

Good

Teacher

Service

Status

Area

Funding

Age

Attractive

Fee

Resistant

Examination

Task 13. Fill in the correct preposition:

Due ___

To account ______

Entry _____

Improvement ____

emphasis ____

vital _____

resistant ____

to be located ______

demand ____

to register ____ birth

applicant _____

to be destined ____

regardless ____

Task 14. Match two parts of the sentences

1. A long time ago when education was a privilege of the rich,	a) as some public schools charge up to £20,000 a year.
2. The first thing you need to have is money	b) as a public school for the children of poor farmers but rapidly became one of the most prestigious private schools in the country.
3. Harrow, the second best public school in the UK after Eton, was founded in 1572	c) is that it is all about class.
4. Famous Old Harrovians include	d) the only schools where poor people could go were funded by charities.
5. Harrow is an all-boys school	e) but most pupils have to pay about £13,000 a year plus extra charges.
6. There are some free places for gifted pupils	f) such as Latin and Greek, and start learning modern languages earlier.
7. The main thing that you should understand about public education	g) because they do not want their children to be near home as it interferes with their social life.
8. There is also an opportunity to study elite subjects	h) so it can be a bit intimidating for poorer children.
9. I also do not like the idea of single sex education, especially for boys,	i) with 800 pupils.
10. On the negative side, I would certainly mention high fees and that most public school kids have very well-to-do parents,	j) as it can lead to future communication problems with the opposite sex.
11. A lot of upper middle and upper class families traditionally send their kids to full boarding schools	k) Winston Churchill and Lord Byron.

(taken from www.busyteacher.org)

Task 15. Fill in the gaps with the words and phrases given in the box:

Thomas's London Day Schools are a group of family run, _______________ schools for children from the ages of two and a half to thirteen. We offer first class _____________, Lower, ________ and Upper School education in our preparatory schools throughout London. The aim of the coeducational kindergartens is to _____________________ to learn, experiment, play and to gain independence. The ____________ is designed to foster the emotional, physical, social, intellectual and creative development of each child. During their first year children attend three mornings a week, in their second year, five mornings and they are welcome to join afternoon club activities.

In the Lower School, where children need a focal point, the form teacher takes most ________________. The education benefits of giving children access to teachers who have a true passion for their subject. French, Music, Drama, Art, Pottery, Ballet and PE are therefore taught by specialist teachers.

At Thomas's, Battersea children join Year 3 in their form groups but they are set for Mathematics. In Year 4 the classes are _______________ new social groupings and in Years 4 and 5 the classes are set for Mathematics.

Pupils in the Upper School are set, according to ability, in all academic subjects. Scholarship classes are arranged in Year 8. The 13+ Common _________________ taken in Year 8 is for entry into the traditional ______________ for boys, for coeducational schools and for a growing number of girls' schools. Traditionally girls proceeding to London day schools take ______________________.

coeducational Kindergarten

nurture the children's desire curriculum

academic subjects rearranged to provide

Entrance Examination public schools

the 11+ entrance examination Middle

(adapted from http://www.thomas-s.co.uk)

Task 16.