Public Schools
Let’s give three cheers for public schools;
They fill the country full of fools,
Whose birthright is to make the rules.
In places not displayed on maps,
The locals queue to doff their caps
And show support for these fine chaps.
The playing fields, the blazered crowd,
The exhortations shouted loud,
The offside goal not disallowed,
Space reserved for each relation,
Bentleys queueing at the station,
Make us proud to be one nation.
With chinless bluster on parade,
They munch from hampers in the shade;
Though round the edge a little frayed,
They play at judges, peers, MPs.
Their practised charm is a disease;
They have no use for expertise.
The status of the chosen one
Is passed to daughter and to son.
Before they start the race, they’ve won,
Yet constitute a motley crew.
Without direction, they would stew
In their sickly, simmering brew.
The members of the smug elite
Have providence laid at their feet.
Aspiring to a country seat,
They cover traces of misdeeds.
When cornered, self-protection pleads
For deals to serve their selfish needs.
The unforgiving scandal mags
Thrive on the japes of fee-paid wags,
Who run up patriotic flags
To camouflage when they deceive,
And so maintain, after reprieve,
This gilded world of make-believe.
Stephen Gospage
Sun 14th Mar 2021 17:01
My thanks to everyone who liked this poem and for all the interesting comments.
It is intended mainly as entertainment but I suppose that its political standpoint is fairly clear. There are many contradictions concerning fee-paying schools. On the one hand, a system in which a large part of the ruling class and the professions come from schools which are only accessible to a small number of people (7% of the population) whose parents can afford to pay the fees is obviously unfair and socially regressive. On the other, it is extraordinary how many 'ordinary' folk seem to fall under the spell of these types, the 2019 election being an example.
In addition, I don't deny that, as Leon says, many people make sacrifices and choose to send their children to public school by going without holidays, new cars etc. (Not sure about takeaways!). Of course, millions of people are excluded from making this choice, sacrifices or not.
Perhaps this is envy, as M.C. suggests (I'll watch out for the status police), but my real objection to these schools is that they turn out many people who exude an assumed superiority over everyone else. Again, one cannot generalise and I had several ex-public school colleagues who were not at all like this. But I have also met many who are, unfortunately.
Yes, Greg, what do we do? This is where it gets difficult. Restrictions on people's freedom to choose schools are problematic (even if, as we said, the choice is only available to some). In the end, we have to tax fee-paying schools properly and put resources into state education to reduce the incentive to choose the private route, as well as making society less unequal in general. This is where writing a poem is so much more fun than having to make policy!
Aviva - an ex-public school pupil once said that to me when I parked his Rolls for him. Ok, that's not true, but I wish it had been. Or perhaps I don't.