It Pays To Be Posh

Have you ever wondered if your private education has been worth the money that has been spent on it? Then wonder no more. The facts speak for themselves. 

In 2010 former cabinet minister Alan Milburn produced a report on social mobility in Britain, concluding that we are one of the least socially mobile countries in Europe, largely due to educational inequalities. Only 7 % of Britain’s population are privately educated yet over half of the cabinet attended fee-paying schools. Three quarters of the coalition cabinet are millionaires and Eton alone has produced 19 prime ministers.

Although, to many, it is sobering to think that the annual fees for many private schools are higher than the national average wage, this can give young privately-educated men a sense of entitlement and confidence to know that their brains are worth a minimum of £142,980 after leaving a fee-paying school.

Equipped with a first-rate education, money in the bank and access to the ‘old boys' network, it is a short step from a good university to an important job with rich rewards. There is no way around it; privately educated people dominate the top professions and according to Milburn, the barriers for those less privileged are growing ever higher. Educational charity -The Sutton Trust has said, "Children's levels of achievement are more closely linked to their parents' background in England than in many other developed nations."

 With the highest quality of teaching available in Britain's public schools and their incredible wealth of facilities, it is not surprising that privately educated children perform so much better than those in state schools. Independent schools offer pupils the lowest teacher/student ratios with 1 teacher to every 9.4 pupils, allowing children to receive much more support and attention. After-hours care, a range of comprehensive indoor and outdoor activities and excellent sports are some of the other reasons that enable students to achieve great results year after year. Privately educated children are four times more likely than state pupils to get straight As at A-level, and more than three times as likely to go to university.

In mid-June Milburn will publish three further reports for the Coalition on social mobility and child poverty. He will include one that focuses on the role of higher education and the extent to which admissions policies should take greater account of applicants' backgrounds. He has recently spoken out about the subject saying that teenagers from poor backgrounds attending low-achieving schools “had to work harder to get decent A-levels” than similar pupils brought up by well-off parents.”

He aims to have universities look into the context in which the applicant achieved their results as well as the actual grades, specifically looking at the average grade for their school. For example a B  grade at an inner-city state school may have the same gravitas as an A at a private school. Would this mean that the elite universities would have to sacrifice their academic excellence for the sake of government targets and political correctness?

Milburn’s controversial subject will no doubt provoke anger among many people, including politicians, students and academics. Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University, said  “Politicians should not be meddling with university admissions – they should be putting their energies into creating an excellent and equitable schools’ system for everyone. Universities, like Premier League football teams, should be allowed to select the best possible talent among those available to them.”

It has always been the case that advantaged young people are more likely to enter selective institutions than the disadvantaged, in some cases as much as 15 times more likely. Just under half of the pupils accepted at Oxford and Cambridge Universities come from the 7% of the population educated at private schools and according to the Independent Schools Council “28.5% of those studying medicine and dentistry at university have come from a private school.”

Spokesman for the Campaign for State Education, Michael Pyke said "Courses like medicine and architecture require considerable investment on the part of a student and their family. The reason there are disproportionately high numbers of private school pupils studying these subjects is not that they have had superior advice, it is because these children come from well-heeled and naturally ambitious families."

With unpaid internship becoming an increasingly accepted route into a career, the advantages of the wealthy do not stop after higher education. The family connections that secure a decent internship and the means to survive without a salary can mean a worry-free transition from university to the work place. Despite Nick Clegg’s hypocritical attack on the inequality of opportunity in April 2011, the job market still favours contacts over suitability or merit .The fact cannot be ignored that not everyone has good contacts but it would seem foolish not to use them if they are available to you.

It is not only connections or grades that can land the ex-public school contingent the best internships or indeed jobs in the country; unassailable self-confidence, understated authority and judicious charm are almost solely the reserve of the privately educated. Instilled from a young age with a sense of entitlement, in the most part they follow old traditions and have impeccable manners, not forgetting cut glass accents.

  

With so few of the younger generation speaking RP, the privately educated stand out from the crowd of Essex-esque accents that have taken over our TV screens. In recessionary times, people aim to maximise their chances in exam presentations, university and job interviews and as a result the number of state educated individuals seeking elocution lessons has increased dramatically. The plummy accent of the wealthy does not go unnoticed, as a recent study by travel company Sunshine revealed that a pilot with an upper class accent is much more reassuring than one with a regional twang. Sunshine co-founder Chris Brown said: "We weren't surprised to find that the classic RP accent was the most likely to make passengers feel safe, as it's a given that the 'BBC accent' is the most widely accepted.”

There will always be people who look upon the wealthy and privileged with animosity but it seems that Britons are coming round to' posh.' With films such as The Kings Speech and The Iron Woman, the emphasis on clarity of articulation and correct pronunciation has increased. Television programmes such as Made in Chelsea and Downtown Abbey have made aristocrats and the elite cool.

From private schooling and top universities, it is only a short step to the heart of the establishment. Nearly three quarters of judges, a third of FTSE 100 chief executives, half of all senior journalists and a third of MPs are from wealthy families who chose private schooling over state. Whether you’re a dentist, architect, doctor or pilot you can rest assured people will feel safe in your imperious hands while listening to your elitist voice.