The plot against public schools

Matthew Parris has launched a critique on the charitable status of public schools in this morning’s Times. Matthew is not opposed to private education, just to the arrogance of the bastions of privilege that sell a lifestyle and connections as well as an education. Echoing the government’s social mobility Tsar, Alan Milburn, Matthew argues that these schools should earn their breaks by doing more for the communities that surround them, the vast darkness outside their hallowed walls.  

He then urges the government to take the fight to the public schools, and, by extension, the legal system that protects their special position. He also backs publicly funded scholarships, a proposal of the Sutton Trust’s Sir Peter Lampl which was unveiled in the Spectator in March. Matthew says that Conservatives must be the torch bearers of meritocracy, and that anything that can be done to break the closed circle of advantage should be done.