Figure 1.--The great majority of the children at British prep schools are native born British. We see a few South Asian, black, and oriental children, but they are a very small minority. There is no evidence any prejuduce is involved, but simply a economic matter of who can afford the school fees. |
Britain in the 19th century conducted a long, divisive debate over state education. Today in the British welfare state, it is the private schools that are controversial. One of the many controversies surrounding British education. Britain’s independent schools are the subject of an extensive and long-standing debate. The Labour Party has traditionally viewed the private schools with considerable disfavor. The school fees mean that only a limited sector of the British public can afford to send their children to private schools. This means that the well to do are not educated withe the working class as well as much of the middle class. It also means that most the well to do are not educated with racial minorities because most minorities are in the lower income level. The Labour Party has this seen the independent sector as a socially divisive remanent of privilege. They believe that by “creaming off” some of the better students, private schools not only give their pupils and unfair advantage, but lower the standards of the state schools which are increasingly dominated by the comprehensive secondary schools. Since the World War II, most British state school systems have done away with the 11-Plus examination which evaluated children at 11 years of age for admission to the country’s academically oriented grammar schools or the secondary modern schools with lower academic standards.
