In 1948 George Orwell, the old Etonian socialist visionary, wrote that his alma mater represented “a form of education that is hardly likely to last much longer”. The UK’s private schools had at the time managed to swerve out of the line of fire of the great postwar social reformers. And having survived all major interferences from the state since its foundation in 1440, Eton College and the rest of the fee-paying sector have continued to prosper pretty much undisturbed to this day. It is now an internationally attractive service industry offering a golden ticket to a valuable university degree and a rewarding career to a fraction of British youth and the offspring of high-rollers from across the globe.
1948年，伊頓公學(Eton College)校友、「老伊頓人」 社會主義預言家喬治•歐威爾(George Orwell)寫道，他的母校代表著「一種不太可能持續太久的教育形式」。當時，英國私立學校成功避開了戰後偉大社會改革者的火力。自1440年成立以來，伊頓公學經受住了政府的所有重大幹預，和整個私立教育行業一起至今仍然保持著繁榮，幾乎不受外界干擾。如今，這已成爲一個具有國際吸引力的服務業，爲一小部分英國年輕人以及來自全球各地的富豪後代提供獲取高價值大學學位和高回報職業的黃金通行證。