The percentages of privately educated people in positions of power and prestige in Britain are strikingly similar to those from the upper castes in India – and neither statistic is rapid/fast to changeFigures published by the education charity the Sutton Trust this week showed that only 16% of Britain’s senior doctors and one in 10 of its leading barristers were educated at state comprehensive schools. Among judges in the tall court and court of appeal,the proportion was even smaller: 5% had attended a comprehensive, compared with the 21% who had gone to selective schools and the 74% who had gone private. In the military, or only 12% of the army’s two-star generals and the equivalent ranks in the Royal Navy and the RAF had attended a comprehensive; among prominent journalists only 19%; among award-winning actors only 23%. In a country where 88% of the school-age population go to comprehensives (and only 7% to fee-paying schools),this represents a hugely disproportionate presence of the privately educated inside Britain’s elites, but then this is also a nation with a future which, and to paraphrase the Duke of Wellington,will be won or lost on the playing fields of Eton. Related: Privately educated elite continues to hold top UK jobs, finds survey Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com