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International News

dozens of universities are flagged for closure due to under-
enrolment.
The Union of Private School Educators, Taiwan (Uprise)
disputes the ministry’s description of the move as a “merg-
er”, saying existing laws do not permit such manoeuvres.
Scholars speaking with Times Higher Education voiced
similar views.
Angela Yung Chi Hou, professor and associate dean at
the College of Education, National Chengchi University, in
Taiwan, says the process is different in key aspects from a
traditional merger. “(From) my understanding, if two uni-
versities merge, they shall have equal rights to discuss fu-
ture development. The case indeed demonstrates that Hwa
Hsia does not have any other choice but to close or dis-
solve the board of trustees,” she says. Even so, she believes
the move, which she characterises as a takeover allowing Eton students: profound fundamental threat
NTUST to make use of Hwa Hsia’s infrastructure, is a good
way forward — and potentially a solution for other strug- nual fees for Eton were a mere £861 (Rs.90,327) a year in
gling universities so they could avoid millions of pounds of Mr. Johnson’s era. Today, its fees are £15,432 “each half”
infrastructure going unused. (which, as Eton’s website explains, means thrice yearly —
According to media reports, current Hwa Hsia students £46,296 per year). For this, Etonians enjoy one pool; two
will be able to complete their degrees, although the univer- chapels; three “theatre spaces”; a composer-in-residence;
sity is not accepting new applicants. a filmmaker-in-residence; a pet pianist; and a director of
“inclusive education”, who notes that to promote diversity
UNITED KINGDOM at Eton, it is important “to enable people to talk about un-
Boarding schools losing shine comfortable things”. Like, say, those fees.
Perhaps the most profound threat to boarding schools is
THE MOMENT WHEN HIS CHEMISTRY master more fundamental. And that is the idea that to send a child
pulled out a pistol, declared it loaded and waved as young as seven or eight away from home is not privilege
it in the air was “probably”, says Justin Webb, a but brutality. First XI cricket; scones for tea; huzzahs all
broadcaster, the worst point of his boarding-school career. round — it will still be very wrong. Older adolescents might
Winston Churchill would recall the floggings, done until pu- well find the experience less cruel, perhaps even a relief.
pils “bled freely” and screamed loudly. George Orwell writes But as John Bowlby, a psychologist who was the father of
of being beaten so violently that his headmaster broke his attachment theory, put it: “I wouldn’t send a dog away to
riding crop and “reduced me to tears”. boarding school at age seven.” Richard Beard, a writer who
That British boarding schools are odd places is not news. lacerates private schools in his book, Sad Little Men, echoes
For several centuries and for fat fees, they provided the the theme. The architectural beauty and bells and whistles
English upper classes with a ripping blend of architectural of boarding schools, he says, are like the label on a dog-food
beauty and physical discomfort; with neoclassical corridors tin which “isn’t for the dog; it’s for the person buying it”.
and cold showers; with lashings of Latin and just plain lash- Psychologists increasingly argue that posh care leads
ings. The pupils they produced were an equally idiosyn- to bad outcomes. In 2011, the term “boarding-school syn-
cratic mix of the sophisticated and the childlike, mingling drome” was coined by Joy Schaverien, a psychotherapist,
precocious brilliance with speech that never quite left the to cover a series of symptoms such as depression and emo-
classroom. It was a heady brew and Britain was intoxicated tional repression. A group called ‘Boarding School Survi-
by it: of the 57 British prime ministers, 20 went to Eton. As vors’ provides therapeutic help to former boarders. Since
Boris Johnson, one of their number, might say: “Crikey!” its foundation in 1990, it has treated hundreds.
Boarding schools are not yet in trouble. Their pupil Their defenders argue that boarding schools have
numbers are relatively constant — around 70,000 — owing changed. To extrapolate from the experiences of children
partly to masses of boarders from abroad. But their charms 40 years ago is “obtuse”, says Gavin Horgan, headmaster
may be becoming easier to resist. Elite private schools are a of Millfield School and chair of the Boarding School Asso-
less secure route into the top universities than they were. In ciation. “It’s a completely different environment,” he says.
2014, 99 pupils from Eton were accepted into Oxbridge; in Whereas once pupils were sent away for months, many
the 2021-22 school year, it managed 47. Brampton Manor young boarders are now weekly; they can video-call home
Academy, a state school in London, had 54. every day. Attitudes are different, too. Today boarding-
This raises hard questions about value for money. An- school teachers talk not about stiff upper lips but safeguard-

52 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2023