>>42626519Well it makes sense in the historical context.
When the public schools were founded education was not widely available to the public. Your options were the church or private tutors.
The fact that they would admit anyone who could pass a basic exam and had family who could afford it was revolutionary at the time. They were available (in theory) to the wider public.
Though for the majority entrance would only be possible if they could find a wealthy sponsor.
They developed a certain prestige over the centuries of operation before the state schools emerged and wanted to maintain that. Hence why the "public school group" as its called exists.
They don't want to be associated with plebian private schools that are only a hundred or so years old.
