Gene Salamin wrote:
I don't quite understand what you mean by ""public schools" i.e. private education". Do you mean publicly funded, privately operated schooling?
No. The UK has some rather bizarre terminology. US "public school" : UK "state school" US "private school": UK "private school" *and* "public school". The exact meaning of "public school" isn't perfectly clear. Sometimes it seems to mean "old, expensive, socially prestigious private school". Sometimes it means any non-state-funded school. (The term "independent school" is also used and may in fact now be the usual UK term for non-state-funded schools.) According to Wikipedia, the terminology dates to 1868 and derives from these schools' openness to any pupils whose parents are willing to pay the fees. The OED, however, has citations going back to the 16th century and suggests that the distinction was that "private schools" are run for the personal benefit of their owners, whereas "public schools" are charitable institutions run for the benefit of the public (despite receiving fees). Neither distinction has much to do with how the terms are used today. -- g