Letter TES January 21 2011

Public schools' secret? Er, all that extra cash ..

Whilst I would quail at the prospect of being identified as a total cad or bounder and tremble at the thought of a beating in the dorm after lights out, I would have to say that the TES Magazine article on public schools ("Class Act", January 14) was rather light on the charge sheet.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the public schools successfully operated a form of "social closure", shamelessly breached their original endowments and excluded local tradesmen, shopkeepers and artisans. They had become the exclusive preserve of the wealthy, the jaded aristocrats and rising industrial class.

Public schools were characterised by the games cult, anti-intellectualism, philistinism and the narrow curriculum. Their main aim was to inculcate "Christian manliness", as HH Almond, headmaster of Loretto, wrote: "First - character; second - physique; third - intelligence; fourth - manners; fifth - information."

By the end of the 1960s, public schools were still a 19th-century anachronism, reflected brilliantly in Lindsay Anderson's film If.

What is the "secret" behind public schools' "success"? It isn't hard to fathom - spending three or four times more on pupils compared to state schools; state-of-the-art facilities; academic selection via the Common Entrance Exam and smaller classes.

You also have to ask whether our society benefits from continuing to educate an elite in isolated, privileged environments. Does this lead to the haughty contempt that was evident in the scandal of bankers' bonuses and the MPs' expenses saga, with taxpayers' money used for the renovation of one's duck house and the cleaning of one's moat?

Richard Knights, Liverpool

TES

Letter in 'The Guardian' October 9 2010

They did leave the last bit out about George Osborne's chums from St Paul's the 'Wodehousian aristocratic drones'. But, hey, it's 'The Guardian'.

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As Simon Head pointed out in 'Children of the sun' a public school educated elite still dominate politics, the judiciary, journalism, the army and diplomatic corps. Fifty years ago Harold Macmillan and Sir Alec Dougla-Home looked, spoke and dressed as though they had just come off the grouse moor. Today public school boys use Estuary English or even Mockney.

With David Cameron what we are observing is a carefully orhestrated, well-designed, public relations campaign to present him as an 'ordinary bloke'. There's Davecam where Cameron does the washing up and other household chores, off duty the casual clothes with nary any tweed or a tie in sight and cycling to Parliament - slightly tarnished when the 'Daily Mirror' revealed that a chauffeur driven limousine was following on.

George Bush is the scion of one of the wealthiest and best connected families in America, yet he perfected a Texas drawl and made sure he was filmed clearing scrub and driving a pick up truck like any good ol' boy. The main test that the Republican spin-doctors used was whether people would invite a candidate to a barbeque and share a Bud - a test that Al Gore failed because he looked and spoke like a policy wonk. Due to this ability to 'connect' with the voters George Bush was chosen in preference to his older siblings who had more political experience.

The English ruling elite move seamlessly through a cloistered environment - public school, Oxbridge and the City - without any knowledge or experience of the lives of the common people. Maybe that is why George Osborne made the remark about scroungers who made a 'lifestyle choice' not to engage in gainful employment. Or possible he was referring to his school chums at St Paul's, the sort of Wodehousian, aristocratic drones who will never need to do a day's work in their lives.

Letter in the TES October 8th

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The letter in full...

I was amused to read the article 'Top public schools claim state staff fail to inspire'. Yes, you have to admire the chutzpah and bare-faced cheek, then there is the total inability to engage with their own history.

Inability to inspire? Maybe we could start with two centuries of the rote learning of dead languages. Then there was the 'games cult' where pupils would spend hours and hours playing cricket. After the Boer War public schools created their Combined Cadet Forces producing the officer material that uncritically led their men to the slaughter of the First World War.

As for targets and league tables let's not forget the prep schools that relentlessly pressure young children with mock exams and revision over three or four years for the Common Entrance Exam.

As Martin Weiner explained in 'English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit' the public schools obsession with classics and games had a deleterious effect on other subjects like science,games and technology – right through to the latter part of the twentieth century.

As for extra-curricula activities when one is paying £28,000 for one's Eton education, then doubtless one can expect some excellent after school clubs.

The public school tradition? Philistinism, anti-intellectualism and the games cult.