Private schools complaining about favouritism is a bit rich

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/03/private-schools-independent-universities-state

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Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I thought I detected the hand of the independent schools’ PR spinners in a couple of stories over the past few days – part, perhaps, of a softening-up exercise before the A-level and GCSE results later this month.

The fact that, on the same day, the Telegraph and Mail ran articles in which private schools bemoaned both the inadequacies of A-level marking and the favouritism that “elite” universities supposedly show towards candidates from state schools may just be a coincidence, but I rather doubt it. There is something afoot.

Related: If only every child had the quality of education enjoyed at private schools | Michael Rosen

I suspect the something is that private schools are anxious to maintain their privileged position at the top universities, where they claim a percentage of places out of all proportion to the numbers who attend them. They dislike the idea that dodgy marking or preferential treatment for kids from comps might deny their expensively educated darlings a place at Oxbridge.

In fact, it is private school pupils who are unfairly favoured. One in 100 state school pupils go to Oxbridge compared with one in 20 from private schools; 11% of state school pupils go to the select Russell Group institutions, compared with 38% of independent school pupils; private school pupils take 44% of the places for UK students at Oxford, 40% at Cambridge, 40% at Durham, 40% at Bristol and 35% at Imperial College London. The system suits them nicely. Any levelling of the playing field doesn’t.

Naturally, as one of those very few state school pupils who got to Oxbridge, I am all in favour of such levelling. The independent schools will scream “quotas” and “social engineering”, but, given the immensely more favourable conditions in which private pupils are educated, keeping the two cohorts separate for entrance purposes is entirely justified.

The benefits will be huge. When private schools are no longer seen as a fast track to the top universities, parents will opt for state schools, balancing their intakes, putting more pressure on them to perform (these tend to be the sharpest-elbowed parents in the business), and undermining the most socially divisive force in British society. Private schools can then concentrate on their 21st-century task: educating the children of Russian oligarchs and Chinese billionaires.

It’s just not cricket

Incidentally, talking of playing fields, I attended a cricket match at Radley College public school a couple of weeks ago, and was impressed by the sports centre, the three superbly maintained cricket pitches and the school’s nine-hole golf course. Just one thing: given that the boys’ parents are paying £34,000 a year, shouldn’t the school be providing a full 18-hole course? Surely they’re due a refund.

At the bottom of my game

Three years ago I set out to write a book about chess, a game I’ve played badly since I was a boy. The absurdly optimistic premise was that I would try to reach grandmaster standard. Today I am delivering the manuscript to the publisher, and of course I have failed miserably to get anywhere near to becoming a chess expert. My grade – by which we chess players live or die – has risen by nine points over the three years, taking me from mediocre to slightly less mediocre. My chess coach likens reaching grandmaster level to climbing Everest. “I’m still at base camp,” I moaned to him. “No, you’re not, you’re on the tarmac at Heathrow waiting for the plane to Nepal,” he replied. He is nothing if not blunt. I wonder if the publisher would be willing to consider a second volume.