2015-07-14
505
According to my predecessor, who has worked at Eton for 40 years, in the past, 99 percent of students were from aristocratic families. Now the situation has changed drastically. Whereas in the past, there was one student from a middle-class family for every 19 offspring of dukes, earls, or barons, today, most of the students come from the families of lawyers, doctors, businessmen, politicians, scientists, and academics.
Are there any children from working class families?
Very few. As a general rule, they constitute a very small proportion of our scholarship students who showed outstanding ability at entrance examinations. Another reason is that the majority of our students get to Eton from private preparatory schools where there are practically no children with working class backgrounds.
How many foreign students are there at Eton, specifically from Russia?
All private schools in England follow the 10 percent rule, which means that the share of foreign students should not exceed 10 percent. At Eton, I believe, it is well below 10 percent. But the number of students from Russia is enormous by Eton standards: four. In the past, there was never more than one. Unfortunately, I cannot reveal their names. I will only say that they are not the children of oligarchs or high-profile politicians. Their parents belong to the middle class and they live in Russia: businessmen, media people, and civil servants. Incidentally, three of them are here on scholarships.
Not so long ago, I studied Eton archives and found that several interesting people from Russia studied or worked there at different times. In the 18th century, Alexander Kazans, an out-of-wedlock son of Peter the Great, taught art here. As is known, Peter the Great lived in England in 1698, working in the shipyards. Kazans, who became a painter, was his direct descendant.
In 1974, Alexander Solzhinisyn's son, Yermolai, studied here for one year. Not long ago, Marius Stravinsky, a great grandson of Igor Stravinsky, left Eton.
