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public school
A school which is public, in senses varying with time and place.
The Latin publica schola goes back under the Roman Empire to the fourth (and by implication, the first) century a.d., and also appears in the Capitula of Louis the Pious a.d. 829, in the sense of a school maintained at the public expense, national or local.[381St. Jerome Interpr. Chron. Euseb. ii. (a.d. 89), Quinctilianus ex Hispania Calaguritanus, qui primus Romae publicam scholam et salarium e fisco recepit, claruit. 829Capitula Hlodovici Pii (Mon. Germ. Hist., Leges 37), Suggerimus ut morem paternum sequentes saltem in tribus congruentissimis imperii vestri locis scolæ publicæ fiant.] 1. a. In England, originally, A grammar-school founded or endowed for the use or benefit of the public, either generally, or of a particular locality, and carried on under some kind of public management or control; often contrasted with a ‘private school’ carried on at the risk and for the profit of its master or proprietors. In modern English use (chiefly from the 19th century), applied especially to such of the old endowed grammar-schools as have developed into large, fee-paying boarding-schools drawing pupils from all parts of the country and from abroad, and to other private schools established upon similar principles. Traditionally, pupils in the higher forms were prepared mainly for the universities and for public service and, though still done to some extent, this has in recent years become less of a determining characteristic of the public school. It is a general feature that order is maintained and discipline administered to a great extent by the elder pupils themselves: hence the prominent notion in such phrases as ‘a public school education’ or ‘the public school ethos’, which are today taken perhaps more broadly to connote the general qualities which the discipline and spirit of the public school are held to impart.
The Latin form appears in the 12th c., and is frequent from the 14th c. as applied to an endowed free grammar-school. The English form public school is known from 1580, and was no doubt used earlier. Down to the 18th c. it was very generally opposed to ‘private school’, and education in a ‘public school’ was also contrasted with education at home under a tutor The term was officially used in 1860 in the appointment of a Royal Commission, and in 1867 in ‘An Act for the better government and extension of certain Public Schools’. As this act applied to the ancient endowed grammar-schools or colleges of Eton, Winchester, Westminster, Harrow, Rugby, Charterhouse, Shrewsbury, these have sometimes been spoken of as ‘the Seven Public Schools’; but the name is generally used to include these and numerous other large schools, ancient and modern, of similar organization, which are not separated by any definite line from other endowed schools that depend upon a more local constituency.
[c1180Hist. Bury St. Edmunds (Rolls) I. 126 Hic ergo [Canutus rex] tam..benignus..fuisse memoratur ut per urbes et oppida publicas instituens scolas magistris deputatis..pueros..litteris tradidit imbuendos de ratione fiscali sumptibus constitutis. 1364(Apr. 7) in Vict. County Hist. Surrey II. 155 Hugone de Kingston..pedagogo, ut informacioni et doctrine dictorum puerorum..in dicta villa intenderet, et scolas publicas gubernaret. 1437(Feb. 23) in Vict. County Hist. Lincoln II. 430 [The Chapter] monuerunt pauperes clericos in persona Prepositi eorundem, quod adeant scolas publicas et addiscant effectualiter. 1558(a Mar. 8) in Wilkins Concilia IV. 166 Qui in locis insignioribus publicas scholas salario publico vel privato tenent. ]
1580Let. Privy Counc. 18 June, in Strype Life Grindal 254 All such schoolmasters as have charge of children and do instruct them either in public schools or private houses. 1581Mulcaster Positions xxxix. 186 In publicke schooles this swaruing in affection from the publicke choice in no case can be. 1604Act 1 Jas. I, c. 4 §8 No person shall keepe any schoole..except it be in some publike or free Grammer Schoole, or in some such noblemans..or gentlemans..house as are not recusants. 1649in Perfect Diurnall 26 Mar., That some Public Schools for the better education and principling of youth in virtue and justice would soberly be considered of and settled. 1663(Dec. 4) in Vict. County Hist. Bedford. II. 165 Wee the Warden and Schollers of..New Colledge [Oxford] have..elected Mr John Allanson, clerke..to bee Schoolemaster of the publique free Grammer Schoole in..Bedford. 1673Abp. of Armagh in Essex P. (Camden) 113 An Account of the Publique Schooles within the Province of Ulster... There is a free schoole for the Diocesse of Meath, with a Salary according to the Act..of about 40l. p. ann. 1707E. Chamberlayne St. Eng. 385 London. (Heading) Publick Schools and Colleges. The first is Westminster School.{ddd}St. Paul's School.{ddd}Merchant-Taylors School... Belonging to Christ's Hospital is another famous Grammar Free-School... That at Ratcliff was founded by Nicholas Gibson, Grocer of London. 1713Berkeley Guard. No. 62 ⁋8, I regard our public schools and universities, not only as nurseries of men for the service of the church and state [etc.]. 1741Middleton Cicero Ded. 7 Your Lordship..by Your education in a public School and University, has learnt from Your earliest youth [etc.]. 1749Fielding Tom Jones iii. v, This worthy man having observed the imperfect institution of our public schools, and the many vices which boys were there liable to learn, had resolved to educate his nephew, as well as the other lad..in his own house. 1760Foote Minor i. i, He has run the gauntlet thro' a public school, where, at sixteen, he had practis'd more vices than he would otherwise have heard of at sixty. 1784Cowper Tiroc. 372. 1820 F. Westley's Catal. 1 Dec., Elementary Publications recommended as Reward Books for Sunday and other Public Schools. 1828Arnold Let. 14 Mar. in Stanley Life, I never ran down public schools in the lump, but grieved that their exceeding capabilities were not turned to better account. a1832Crabbe Posth. Tales xix. 223. 1839 W. Lovett & J. Collins, etc. Chartism, To erect public halls or schools for the people throughout the kingdom. 1847(title) Fagging: is it hopelessly inseparable from the discipline of a public school? 1848Moberly Winchester Serm. II. Pref., What then..is a public school? and wherein does it essentially differ from a private one?.. A public school is one in which the government is administered, in greater or less degree, with the aid of the pupils themselves: a private school is one in which the government is altogether administered by masters. 1893Westm. Gaz. 11 Feb. 4/2 Our Public Schools..(by which phrase we never mean real public schools like the Board schools at all, but merely schools for the upper and middle classes) are in their existing stage primarily great gymnasiums. 1899A. F. Leach Hist. Winchester Coll. ii, The only working definition of a Public School then is that it is an aristocratic or plutocratic school which is wholly or almost wholly a Boarding School, is under some form of more or less public control, and is..‘non-local’:—a ‘Boarding Academy for young Gentlemen’, which draws its pupils from all parts of the Country, and is not a Private Adventure School.
b. attrib. and Comb. as public school accent, public school attitude, public school boy (hence public school-boyish adj.), public school code, public school English, public school girl, public school man, public school product, public school spirit, public school system, public school tie, public school training, public school type, etc.; public school-bred, public school-educated adjs.; also appositive, as public-school–Oxford attrib.; also passing into adj.
c1843G. Moberly in Stanley Arnold (1845) I. iii. 191 Hardly to be found among public-school men. 1844Stanley Ibid. (1845) 112 The peculiarities which distinguish the English public school system from almost every other system of education in Europe. 1874Burnand My time xxiii. 205 He had not had a public-school training. 1899Kipling Stalky 164 Talking..of public-school spirit and the traditions of the ancient seat. 1901Athenæum 27 July 121/1 The task of estimating public-school influence on the nation at large. 1914‘I. Hay’ Lighter Side School Life viii. 207 That is the Public School Attitude in a nutshell. Ibid. 220 We note a new factor in the composition of the Public School Type—the military factor. 1930(title) The diary of a public school girl. 1930E. Waugh Vile Bodies x. 174 Knowledgeable young men with..old public-school ties. 1931D. L. Sayers Five Red Herrings v. 55 Waters..spoke standard public-school English. 1933Granta 26 Apr. 370/1 It is a movement for unemployed graduates and Public School boys. 1936J. Buchan Island of Sheep i. ii. 21 The kind of son I had hoped for..was..the kind of public-school product you read about. Ibid. 22 Peter John..didn't care a rush for the public-school spirit. 1938M. Allingham Fashion in Shrouds x. 162 ‘He's not in there,’ said Jimmy, revealing a stammer and a public-school accent. 1943M. Schlauch Gift of Tongues 264 English writers themselves have sometimes jeered at certain details of ‘public school-Oxford’ speech as being affected. 1943F. Thompson Candleford Green ii. 29 His highly-pitched, public-schoolboyish accent. 1946P. Bottome Lifeline i. 10 He was an Eton master, and the Public School code..he believed in. 1952Koestler Arrow in Blue xxviii. 263 Public School-bred Foreign Office diplomats like Guy Burgess and Donald MacLean. 1962Times 27 Feb. 13/2 The public-schoolboyish professional Roman soldier. 1962R. Williams Britain in Sixties: Communications v. 101 In fact ‘public-school English’..cannot now become a common speech-form in the country as a whole: both because of the social distinctions now associated with its use, and because of the powerful influence of American speech-forms. 1966J. Cleary High Commissioner vii. 136 A veneer of public school accent had been laid over the gravel in his voice. 1967Listener 30 Nov. 694/3 ‘The English public school⁓boy’, the prototype of unimaginative disciplined conformity. 1971Halsey & Trow Brit. Academics xv. 421, 41 per cent of the public school educated teachers place themselves on the Left. 1973‘D. Jordan’ Nile Green ii. 12 It's one of the curses of the English public school girl that she never believes in making the bed first thing in the morning. a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 131 While she is extremely tough in negotiation she is extremely public school when she's asked..to make a sacrifice in her departmental interests for the good of the nation or for the convenience of the Civil Service. 1975J. I. M. Stewart Gaudy iii. 41 They were entirely English and very public-school. 1975‘D. Jordan’ Black Account xx. 108 One of those public-school ties which carry important messages between all true Englishmen. 1978Cadogan & Craig Women & Children First v. 95 Eighteen-year-old Raleigh..dies still behaving in accordance with the public-school code.
†2. Formerly applied to the lecture-room or class of the professor of any faculty in a university or similar institution for advanced study or higher learning. Obs.
[829: see above] .1582Allen Martyrd. Campion (1908) 6 Thither [to Douai] he went where after a yere's great diligence and many exercises done booth in house and publike scholes, he proceeded bachilier of divinitie. c1590Marlowe Faust. i. 88 I'll have them fill the public schools with silk, Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad. 1617–20Moryson Itin. (1903) 319 The publike schoole at Strasburg was not reputed an universitie yet gave the degrees of Bachelors and Masters of Artes, having a publike house for that purpose, and publike schooles where learned Professors did read. 1651Hobbes Leviath. iv. xlvi. 370 That which is now called an University, is a Joyning together, and an Incorporation under one Government of many Publique Schools, in one and the same Town or City.
3. In Scotland, the Commonwealth and (former) colonial territories, and North America: A school provided at the public expense and managed by public authority for the use of the community of a defined district, as part of a system of public (and usually free) education. Occas. applied to schools in other countries.
The term has been used in New England and Pennsylvania from the 17th c., and has been adopted in all States of the American Union. An early synonym was ‘free school’, and a later one in some States, ‘common school’, which was subsequently however generally confined to a school of the lowest grade or ‘public elementary school’. In Scotland, the name was made official by the Education Act of 1872: see quot. Scottish ‘Public’ Schools were by the Code of 1908 classed as Primary, Intermediate, and Secondary, a classification based solely on the extent of their curriculum. In some colonies the division was into First, Second, and Third Class Public Schools.
1644Acts of United (New Engl.) Colonies (1859) 20 Prompt to extend their care for the good of publike Schooles. 1683Pennsylv. Frame of Govmt. §10 The Governor and Provincial Council shall erect and order all public Schooles. 1711(May 9) Boston Town Records VIII. 80 [To] be invested and laid out in some Real Estate for the use of the Publick Lattin School. 1785(May 20) Ordinance U.S. Congress, There shall be reserved the lot No. 16 of every township for the maintenance of public schools within the said township. 1789Nova Scotia Mag. I. 80/1 This seminary is erected in consequence of a law of this Province, intitled, ‘An Act for establishing a public school, in the town of Halifax’. 1853tr. Siljeström's Educ. Instit. U.S. 15 Public schools is the name given to all schools which are supported by the public, and which are therefore under public control. 1872Canadian Monthly June 483/1 Public Schools..are distinguished from those which until recently were entitled Grammar Schools, and were intended to afford instruction in the elements of the classical languages as well as the mother tongue. 1873Pennsylv. Constit. §10 The general assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public schools, wherein all the children of the commonwealth above the age of six years may be educated. 1894G. H. Martin (title) Evolution of the Massachusetts Public School System. 1903Manual of Public Schools of Boston, [Classified as] Normal, Latin, and High Schools, Grammar Schools, Primary Schools, [and] Kindergartens. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 45 (Advt.), Not one street to cross to get to public school. 1976D. Heffron Crusty Crossed xi. 79 In Big Point, there was nothing to fuss over. Only one school to go to until you passed grade eight. They called that kind of school a public school, which in England was the name for a private school which your parents have to pay quite a lot of money to send you to.
1872Act 35 & 36 Vict. (Scotl.) c. 62 §25 Every school under the management of the school board of a parish shall be deemed a parish school, and every school under the management of the school board of a burgh shall be deemed a burgh school, and all such schools are hereby declared to be public schools within the meaning of this Act. Ibid. §26 There shall be provided for every parish and burgh a sufficient amount of accommodation in public schools available for all persons resident in such parish or burgh [etc.]. 1882Act 45 & 46 Vict. c. 18 §1 This Act may be cited as the Public-Schools (Scotland) Teachers Act, 1882. 1908Scotch Education Code §12 An Inspector or sub-Inspector may visit any public school, or any other school subject to inspection at any time without notice. 1909Let. to Editor, In Scotland, apart from the official and legal use of the words ‘public school’, the term is now generally used in the sense of an elementary day school under a school board.
1901‘M. Franklin’ My Brilliant Career iii. 14 My parents received an intimation from the teacher of the public school..to the effect that the law demanded that they should send their children to school. 1904Cape of Good Hope C.S. List 267 Public Schools. Course of Instruction... Class III. To include at least reading, writing, arithmetic, outlines of history and geography, and lessons on natural objects. Ibid. 268 (List of) The First Class Undenominational Public Schools. 1965Austral. Encycl. VIII. 23/1 In Victoria (as in Tasmania) ‘public school’ generally carries its English meaning... In New South Wales..in 1892..‘public school’ then meant to most people ‘State primary school’. 1972Mainichi Daily News 7 Nov. 5/1 Students in Kanagawa Ken, both Japanese and foreign from public and private schools.
Hence public-ˈschoolish a., characteristic or suggestive of a public school; public-ˈschoolishness; public-ˈschooly a. = public-schoolish a.
1930Observer 22 June 13 Mr Leslie Mitchell, as the simple Andy, is too public-schoolish in tone and manner. 1930A. Huxley Let. 14 June (1969) 337 English literary criticism for the moment is all for being nice and gentlemanly and public-schooly. 1947‘G. Orwell’ Eng. People 39 Many necessary abstract words..are rejected by the working class because they sound public-schoolish, ‘tony’ and effeminate. a1960E. M. Forster Maurice (1971) i. ix. 48 During the previous term he had reached an unusual level mentally, but the vac had pulled him back towards public-schoolishness. |