What do 71% of senior judges, 62% of senior armed forces officers, 55% of top civil servants, 36% of the Cabinet and 43% of newspaper columnists have in common?
They all went to private schools. Which is kinda weird because only 6% of the general population did and kinda worrying because that tiny elite seems to control British society.
The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission analysed the backgrounds of more than 4,000 business, political, media and public sector leaders to expose the problem. But did any of those high-flyers thank them? Did they heck.
Most kept their heads down but the boss of England’s top private headies came out fighting. Richard Harman says it’s nonsense to suggest high flyers get top jobs just because they went to fee-paying schools.
Of course, privately educated youngsters must prove they can do the job. But who are they proving that to? Usually a selection board of ex private-school pupils just like themselves. And why have they been plucked for interview from tens of thousands of applicants good luck or the right social credentials?
I’d say the Commission’s figures are spot-on because I was one of those privileged kids.
I went to two state schools in Belfast but when my family moved to Glasgow, things changed. I had passed the 11-plus but my wee brother didn’t. Most boys were just slower to develop “verbal reasoning” than girls and my bro eventually got the same degree as myself. But back then, my parents decided I needed a more “academic” school than him in Scotland.
We went to different universities. He went to Glasgow, I went to Oxford. Was that because I had better exam results, greater confidence because of smaller classes or had stepped onto a conveyor belt of privilege the minute I entered those fee-paying doors? I’ll never know. But I do know private school pupils make up 42% of Oxford students and just 6% of the general population. And that’s not right.
If Britain was an equal society the personal attributes of decision makers would hardly matter. Men and women would both care for kids, high-flyers and ordinary folk would use the same health services, old folks’ homes, buses and trains and school pupils would have the same levels of confidence in private and state schools.
But Britain isn’t equal. Our life experiences are more divided by income, class, gender and religion than almost any other country measured by the OECD.
So it matters hugely that one tiny, affluent, unrepresentative strand of British life wields so much power especially at Westminster. In 2012 Eton educated David Cameron was worth £4m and the combined wealth of the Cabinet stood at £70m.
No wonder Dave’s Government doesn’t share the general dismay about Britain’s descent into food banks, mutual suspicion, loan sharks and debt. It doesn’t touch them. Cabinet Minister Michael Gove railed against the number of Etonians in Dave’s inner circle. “I don’t know where you can find a similar situation in a developed economy.”
He was absolutely right but months later Gove was out on his (largely) state-educated ear.
Private schooling isn’t the only bit of elitism though.Commons research shows three times more MPs have worked as a political organiser than a manual worker or a teacher. In short, folk without experience of the real world have a growing stranglehold on political power.
Will Scots keep or reject the whole elitist Westminster set-up on September 18?
Decency and common sense, not money and privilege, will decide.
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