When it comes to the British educational system, we will think of Eton, one of the best known public schools, and Oxford and Cambridge, two of the most distinguished universities in Britain. But how important a position do the famous institutions hold in the whole educational system? Are the public schools in Britain really public? What's the state system of education? Is it easy for young people in Britain to enter universities? Read on to learn more.

    All over the world mention of English education suggests a picture of the “public schools”, and it suggests in particular the names of certain very famous institutions — Eton, Oxford and Cambridge;¹ but people do not always realise what place these institutions occupy in the whole educational system. Oxford and Cambridge are universities each having about 2, 000 students out of a total of over 250,000 students at all British universities. Eton is a public school, and the best known of the public schools, which, in spite of their name, are not really public at all, ² but independent and private secondary schools taking boys from the age of thirteen to eighteen years. The public schools in reality form a very small part of the whole system of secondary education; only about one out of forty English boys goes to a public school, and one out of 1,500 goes to Eton.
Apart from the so-called public schools there is a complete system of state primary and secondary education, which resembles in its general form the state education in most other countries. ³ All children must, by law, receive full-time education between the ages of five and sixteen. Any child may attend, without paying fees, a school provided by the public authorities, and the great majority attend such schools. They may continue, still without paying fees, until they are eighteen. In presenting an overall picture of English education it would be reasonable to concentrate on the state system alone and refer briefly to the public schools.⁴ However, although the public schools are not important numerically（在数字上）, they have been England’s most peculiar and characteristic contribution to educational methods, and they have an immense influence on the whole of English educational practice and on the English social structure. For a hundred years most men in leading positions in banking, insurance, high finance, some industries, the army, the church and conservative politics have been educated at public schools. Things are beginning to change but it will take time. Among the universities Oxford and Cambridge hold a dominant position. Of cabinet ministers who went to universities, nearly all went to one or the other of these two, and to Oxford in particular.
A student who receives further full-time education after the age of eighteen, at either a university, a teachers’ training college, or some other college giving training of a special type, can usually receive a grant from the public authorities to cover his expenses, or almost all of them, unless his parents have a large income. But the number of young people who can enter universities is limited by the capacity of the universities, which is less than enough to take all the young people who have the basic qualifications for university admission. In practice, therefore, entry to the universities is competitive. But university degree courses are also available at polytechnics（理工院校）and entry to the Open University is less restricted.⁵
The academic year begins after the summer holidays and is divided into three “terms”, with the intervals between them formed by the Christmas and Easter holidays. The exact dates of the holidays vary from area to area, being in general about two weeks at Christmas and Easter, plus often a week or more at Whitsun, and six weeks in the summer, beginning rather late.⁶ Schools outside the state system decide on their own holiday dates, generally taking a month off at Christmas and Easter and eight weeks in the summer. The three terms are not everywhere called by the same names; indeed some schools call the January-March period “the Spring Term”, others use “Spring Term” for the period April-July. Some call the January term “Winter Term” (which is logical), others call it “Easter Term”.
Day-schools mostly work Mondays to Fridays only, from about 9 a.m. to between 3 and 4 p. m. Lunch is provided and parents pay for it unless they prove to the authorities that they cannot well afford to. All primary school children, including those in independent schools, were given milk free of charge until 1970 when the government abolished（废除）this benefit.

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