Eton and Harrow of England

Churchill and Nehru studied at Harrow.

Eton College and Harrow School are both all-boy boarding schools. When the boys enter, they are 13 years old, and they spend five years before they graduate when they become 18 years old. Eton was established by King Henry VIII (1491-1541). Harrow started as an exclusive school for boys in 1243, but moved to the present location during the period of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603).

Until recently, most of the prime ministers came from Eton or Harrow. These schools used to teach their boys how to run the British empire. These days, they are interested in teaching them how to run international corporations. This does not appear to be an easy transition.

Winston Churchill went to Harrow. Though brilliant, he was not a disciplined student. He always wanted to do things in his own way. He is still regarded as the best political leader of the 20th century.

Jawaharlal Nehru was also a Harrow graduate. He then studied engineering at Cambridge University. He is best known as the first prime minister of India. India is still run by the Nehru dynasty.

The concept of running an empire is out-dated, but it seems to be difficult for Eton and Harrow to shake off this ideology. Many people are still interested in sending their children to one of these two expensive schools, and the competition rate is 20 to 1.

When I was in my high school (1948-54), my principal was a strong believer of the Eton-Harrow system, and mentioned Eton and Harrow everyday. When I left Korea, he said "You should do better than those Eton-Harrow graduates." In order to better understand my own educational background, I visited Eton in 2004 and Harrow in 2009.

Let us see the result of his Eton-Harrow-style education. When I I entered his high school in 1948, my class consisted of 360 boys. Only 240 of them graduated in 1954, due to the bloody Korean War (1950-53). The campus was totally destroyed. Yet, this class produced three Harvard PhDs, two Princeton PhDs, and one MIT PhD. I think he knew what he was doing.

• Entrance to the Quadrangle. When I was there, the school was closed, and I was not allowed go into the main part of the campus. This is a photo of myself at the entrance.
  1. Campus seen from the south-eastern corner of the town.
  2. Residence Hall. At the entrance of this residence hall is a big navy gun, telling that they are still interested in running their Overseas Empire.
  3. One of the Study Rooms. Very comfortable indeed.

• Their Formal Dress is like that worn by symphony conductors.
  1. Eton Choir. I talked with these two students while they were going to their meeting. They were going to sing in their choir.
  2. Informal Dresses. I talked to these two boys, and they said they like to dress like other boys in the world.
  3. Social Gathering. I was an un-invited guest at this gathering. I asked them why girls are there while Eton is an all-boy school. They said girls come wherever boys are.
  4. Eton Student in London. I met this Eton boy in June of 2009. He was going home for summer vacation. He came from Eton to the Paddington station, and was taking subways to go home. This photo was taken at the Gloucester Road Station. I told him I was on my way to Harrow. He then asked me why not Eton. He became relieved when I told him I was there five years earlier in 2994.

• Windsor Castle seen from Eton. The Windsor Castle is the private residence of the British royal family. Would you like to invited to a party held here hosted by Queen Elizabeth?
  1. The Thames River is between Eton and the Windsor Castle. This photo was taken from the bridge connecting these towns. The hotel-restaurant complex is on the Eton side.
  2. Entrance to the Castle.
  3. British soldiers guard the Castle. The shortest guard in this photo is a woman soldier.
  4. There are many visitors to the Castle. I met these students from Belgium near the Windsor train station.
  5. Afternoon Tea. British ladies gather in the afternoon and enjoy tea while their husbands are working. I met these ladies in Windsor. They finished their tea meeting and were about to go home. I asked them whether I can have a photo with them.

Harrow School

• Students. I met these students in front of main building. They thought I was one of their earlier graduates. I was very happy to be surrounded by them.
  1. Korean Students. I was fortunate enough to meet these Korean students. One of them came from Daegu and the other from Seoul. Both of them came from prominent and well-to-do families. It costs more than $60,000/year to go to Harrow. Koreans invest heavily in their children's education.
  2. Jawaharlal Nehru of India was a Harrow graduate. He then went to Cambridge to study engineering. He was one of the most influential leaders in the 20th Century, and many people say that India is run by the Nehru dynasty.

• Harrow Store supplying Harrow-marked clothes and school supplies. It is safe to expect that Harrow-marked things are expensive. I met there some interesting people.
  1. Harrow Parents. Here is a Harrow boy with mom and dad. His parents came to Harrow to bring him home after the exam.
  2. Harrow Teachers. I met two of their teachers at the Harrow book store. On my side is the store manager. I asked those teachers whether the boys are behaving properly. They said most of them are.

• Main Building is at the top of the Harrow Hill.
  1. Main Building from a different angle.
  2. Development Office is ready to accept your money. The high standard of Harrow School is maintained by monetary contributions from alumni and parents, in addition to tuitions from students or their parents.
  3. Harrow Chapel. Look where the entrance is. Have you seen this kind of building?

• Library Building. Very stylish, like a toy box.
  1. Inside the Library. I was not allowed go inside, but I could take this photo.

• One of the Residence Halls where students live and sleep.
  1. The Resident Mother takes care of all the students. She said Winston Churchill was not admitted to her Hall, because he was not behaving well. Churchill lived at another residence hall.
  2. Main Dining Hall. Tables are empty because this photo was taken after the lunch hour.
  3. Outside View from the main dining hall.

Princeton University in U.S.A.

• Campus. The concept and word of campus came from this unversity.
• P-rade. Parade of Princeton alumni.
• New York City is one-hour train away from Princeton.

• copyright@2014 by Y. S. Kim, unless otherwise specified. photos of Churchill and Nehru are from the public domain.

  How did I talk to Einstein?

  1. Click here for his home page.
  2. His photo-biography for his home page.
  3. His Princeton page.
  4. His Einstein page.
  5. His world Travel
  6. His Style page.

     
     I received my PhD degree from Princeton in 1961, seven years after high school graduation in 1954. This means that I did much of the ground work for the degree during my high school years.