Public School Boys and a Return the 19th Century

Here is a rather interesting piece by broadcaster Andrew Neil entitled "Does a narrow social elite run the country". He articulates something that I have been seeing for a while now, that rather than a more open class less society we are retreating back to situation where we are ruled by the privileged elite.

As Neil points out “After falling steadily for decades, the number of public school MPs is on the rise once more, 20 of them from Eton alone - five more MPs than the previous Parliament.” Added to the fact that Public school “boys” hold a disproportionate amount of the high paid jobs in the country i.e those jobs that would allow one to send their child to public school. Its not pretty reading.

Neil concludes that the death of the Grammar school and raise of the comprehensive is largely at fault for this reversal of social mobility, although the reduction in the power of the unions is also contributory. That in the day of the 11+ those with the potential had only a ladder to climb to compete with public school boys, where as today they have a mountain to climb. He might just have a point, Grammar schools (which where before my time) seemed to allow for those with the right stuff to excel academically where as they tend to be lost in the comprehensive system where a disproportionate amount of resources are spent on those that struggle. He goes further to hold up the German system (something that seems to be done frequently in these days) to say that there is nothing wrong with separating out the academics as long as you provide truly world class vocational education for those that are left.

It has been a concern of mine for a long time now that even the Labour benches are filled with Public schools boys or Oxbridge alumni. Can the 7% who are privileged enough to afford a public education, truly represent the needs of the other 93% who don’t? Are we heading back into the 19th century when those that have the right background rather than the right stuff rule? Only time will tell, but the outlook doesn’t look good.