Comment by vel0city
Note in some European contexts (like UK) "public school" means something more along the lines of "private school" in the US. They have selective admissions, there's usually tuition, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_school_(United_Kingdom)
> The schools are "public" from a historical schooling context in the sense of being open to pupils irrespective of locality, denomination or paternal trade or profession or family affiliation with governing or military service, and also not being run for the profit of a private owner.
Exactly. Most private schools were meant for weak students, wealthy but pathetically snob families, or often both; a specific high school, run by nuns and now disbanded, distinguished itself with even greater occurrences of newsworthy criminals and psychopaths.