Engines of Privilege: Britain'S Private School Problem

'Thoroughly researched and written with such calm authority, yet makes you want to scream with righteous indignation' John O'Farrell 'We can expect the manifesto-writers at the next general election to pass magpie-like over these chapters ... The appeal to act is heartfelt' Financial Times ___________________ Includes a new chapter, 'Moving Ahead?' Britain's private, fee-paying schools are institutions where children from affluent families have their privileges further entrenched through a high-quality, richly-resourced education. Engines of Privilege contends that, in a society that mouths the virtues of equality of opportunity, of fairness and of social cohesion, the educational apartheid separating private schools from our state schools deploys our national educational resources unfairly; blocks social mobility; reproduces privilege down the generations; and underpins a damaging democratic deficit in our society. Francis Green and David Kynaston carefully examine options for change, while drawing on the valuable lessons of history. Clear, vigorous prose is combined with forensic analysis to powerful effect, illuminating the painful contrast between the importance of private schools in British society and the near-absence of serious, policy-shaping debate. ___________________ 'An excoriating account of the inequalities perpetuated by Britain's love affair with private schools' The Times

About the Author :
Francis Green is Professor of Work and Education Economics at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society, University College London, UK. He is the author of ten books, and writes often on the economic and social effects of private schooling in the past and present. He works frequently as an advisor to the OECD, the European Union and the World Bank, as well as to the UK government. David Kynaston has been a professional historian since 1973 and has written nineteen books, including a series covering the history of post-war Britain (1945–79), 'Tales of a New Jerusalem'. He is currently a visiting professor at Kingston University.

Review :
David Kynaston is one of the great chroniclers of our modern story ... Every paragraph contains some glittering nugget This is the work of a scholar with a gift for illuminating every square inch of each enormous canvas he chooses to paint … Kynaston brings characters large and small to life An exemplary narrative history, with the archives plundered judiciously and plenty of focus on people and their quirks … Fascinating A historian of peerless sensitivity and curiosity about the lives of individuals