The fixation on sport at boarding schools is the reason the country is failing

As a teenager, I very nearly went to boarding school after falling in love with the architecture, the greenery and the sense of freedom. What ultimately put me off was the school’s obscene fixation with sport and my discovery that I would be expected to run around those fields not just once or twice a week, but every single day. 

Listening to How Boarding Schools Shaped Britain, a three-part series on Radio 4, I am not convinced that all this sport isn’t the reason our country is failing. Over two-thirds of our Prime Ministers and half of all holders of offices of state went to boarding schools – and a quarter of those to Eton. With some honourable exceptions, this is hardly a crowd that screams ‘sports team’. On anecdotal evidence, the alumni of such schools can seldom do so much as catch a ball. Which suggests that boarding schools are excellent at instilling a false sense of ability in their pupils, or else a resentment of good sportsmanship.