Seeing Racism At Eton College, A Royal Family School Born Of 20 British Prime Ministers

Eton College (Source: etoncollege.com)

JAKARTA - The widespread 'Black Lives Matter' (BLM) solidarity action in the UK has made the various institutions owned by the government and the private sector look back on past sins. Those who feel they have a history of perpetuating slavery and racism, immediately issue a formal apology to the public.

Some of those who have apologized include The Lloyd's of London Insurance Market, The Bank of England, and the most recent, the most prestigious school in England, Eton College. Quoted from Reuters, an apology was made directly by the current Principal of Eton, Simon Henderson. Simon apologized for the hereditary racism of the institution he currently heads.

Henderson said racism has no place in civilized society, both then and now. "We must have humility and on a personal level to admit that there is still a lot to be done," he told reporters Tuesday, June 23.

The school then plans to invite Dillibe Onyeama, a former black student who exposed racism in the educational institution. Eton College is a reflection that racism, known as discriminating behavior, has been a problem for generations in British educational institutions.

Eton College (Annie Spratt / Unsplash)

Getting to know Eton Colloge

If traced, racism in schools located in the Berkhire Region, West London, has been around for a long time. This educational institution for men cannot be accessed by many people. The proof, from the beginning of Eton's establishment in 1440 until now, the majority of those who became students came from British aristocrats and businessmen families.

Not surprisingly, those who have attended school at Eton are considered famous figures, or at least have famous parents from all over the country. How not, the money spent on school in Eton can reach £ 34,000 or around Rp700 million per year.

Noted 20 British Prime Ministers - including Boris Johnson and David Cameron - have attended school here. Not only that, the British Royal family, namely Prince William and Harry, also experienced the status of being an Etonian - as Eton students are called. Even so, Eton still provides scholarships that allow those from middle-class families to attend the best schools throughout Great Britain.

The problem is, the scholarships that are opened are very limited. As stated by Nick Fraser in The Importance of Being Eton (2006). Those who feel rich then become so powerful that they often underestimate other students. In particular, those with brown skin from the former colonies and protectorates that still exist.

"The behavior then becomes a bad thing in the form of arrogance and exclusivity. This becomes a kind of escape for them because they don't have much talent. But it's not all bad. In the end, they only chose between two options: to be stupid Etonian or bad Etonian, "wrote Nick.

Not only that, Nick also sees the culture of gossiping, disrespectful, and arrogant as a culture that is inherited in the Eton environment. That is what prompted Dillibe Onyeama, who graduated from Ethon in 1969, to write about the racism he experienced while being an Etonian through the book Nigger at Eton (1972).

UK's Eton College apologies to Nigerian ex-student Dillibe Onyeama for racism https://t.co/rR13gZQqeL pic.twitter.com/UkvdBE8aka

- #BBNaija #BBNaijaAudition (@BBNaijaxUpdates) June 24, 2020

In the book, the owner of the article tells a lot about racist behavior that he always received on a daily basis during school. Trivial questions, such as "How many maggots are there in your hair, Onyeama?", "Have you ever eaten human flesh?" or "is your father a witch doctor?" often aimed at Onyeama.

“Every time I heard that, I almost always exploded. To the point where the emotions were so high that I suddenly gave them a few hard punches to the face and stomach. It made some of them cry, which then invited their friends to always shout with a tone of hatred and bitterness at me, "said Onyeama.

To this day, the pain of the racism that Onyeama received is still lingering. When Eton recently expressed his desire to apologize directly to him, Onyeama did not respond. He said Eton's apology was unnecessary.

The same experience was also written by the famous researcher Benedict Anderson who had attended Eton school. In his book entitled Living outside the shell (2016), Ben tells about the majority of students at Eton who have special features. They, according to Ben, they always live in luxurious houses. Later, they can only be found in class.

“These kids, whose backgrounds guarantee a comfortable or powerful future, don't see the need to work hard. And openly denigrating scholarship children as 'bookworms' whose social class is way below theirs. They actually also have their own (intellectual) arrogance, and the bonds between them are very close. I've never been in the same class with so many bright kids, ”said Ben.

Ben also said that during his time at Eton school, many teachers still used corporal punishment as part of their education. Unfortunately, this was also practiced by senior children who got permission to beat younger and younger students for the same reason, namely to educate.

Ben does not stay silent. Himself and some of his friends at Eton, then persuaded his classmates to break this tradition. "When we were seniors, we promised all the newbies that there would be no more beatings - of course we were, for a while, quite popular."

However, Ben doesn't just talk about shortcomings. Regarding Eton's strengths, Ben also wrote at length. Ben reveals how tight Eton is, eventually anyone will feel at home. He then realized that when he was in Eton, the opportunity to spend his exciting days at school while tasting the opportunity to travel abroad, both to Paris, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy, was opened.

Whether it's going with his aunt or with his school friends. In fact, thanks to attending school at Eton, Ben also likes history, art, anthropology and the bonus is Ben won a scholarship to enter Cambridge University.

“In those days, young people studied hard to get in (Eton), but once inside they weren't expected to study very hard, and mostly they spent their time drinking, playing cards or sports, going to the movies and chasing girls. -Girl, "closed Ben.