'My 10 days at an Eton summer school was a real shock to the system'

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. We are on a course beyond school syllabuses: the Eton College Universities Summer School. On one highly frequented student forum, a girl summed up her experience: “Do it, do it, do it.” I was searching for literature summer courses, and decided to apply. To make the summer school possible, Eton subsidises each student by half the cost of the course, even waiving the fee if necessary; last year it contributed £123,000 to the education of 120 state-school pupils. The school I discovered was far removed from my imaginings, and although there were some things I didn’t like, such as scheduled “free time”, as a fellow-participant said, one of the best things was “having informed debates with intelligent people as the norm”.