

The Old Boys: The Decline and Rise of the Public School - benbreen
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/16/the-old-boys-the-decline-and-rise-of-the-public-school-david-turner-review

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cafard
Anthony Burgess, writing of 1947 in _Little Wilson and Big God_ :

At the time of educational reform, grammar schools, which had been founded to
teach Latin grammar, had fallen into disrepute. Secondary modern schools and
technical schools were to be considered as, if not more, important. The
elitism of the public school was to be allowed to continue for a time, if only
because so many socialists sent their sons to Eton, but the grammar school was
to confer no social advantage on its pupils. Theoretically at least the path
to a university could brand out of a secondary modern school. The egalitarian
philosophy ofthe postwar era may have been accepted, cynically, I believe, by
members of the Labour Party, but parents and teachers alike knew the truth:
that the road to the smaller distinctions -- the greater ones being reserved
to Harrow and Rugby -- began in the grammar school.

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leftwingjoke
You have to view this article in the context of the election result today - an
unpredicted win, nay, landslide victory for the tories. The guardians usual
readership - a rag tag bag of lefties, socialists and other gas bags, are all
crying into their cornflakes, looking inwards for answers as to why their
preferred parties did not win.

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pschnapps
This article looks like an attempt by the currently dominant elite network to
smash the last remnants of the one it displaced.

