Posh Boys: How English Public Schools Ruin Britain by Robert Verkaik

Author : Robert Verkaik 
Title : Posh Boys: How English Public Schools Ruin Britain
Published : 2019
Publisher : One World Publications
Pages : 400
Genre : Non Fiction

     

In Britain today, the government, judiciary, and military are all led by an elite who attended private school. Under their watch, our society has become increasingly divided and the gap between rich and poor is now greater than ever before. Is this the country we want to live in? If we care about inequality, we have to talk about public schools. Robert Verkaik issues a searing indictment of the system originally intended to educate the most underprivileged Britons and outlines how, through meaningful reform, we can finally make society fairer for all.

     I am one of a great many people in this country of mine who went to a state school. We were always, of course, aware of private schools.  living where I do it is only a stone's throw to any of these places. The occasional game of rugby or football would bring them circling into our orbit. But with all this said I can't say I ever game it much thought to what they were experiencing alongside my own academic life. So at first glance, this book was always going to be an eye-opening experience for me. As is stated in the book for most people living outside of England the thought of us having a caste system. But that would be a huge mistake on any one's part. This is a book about how the other half lives. A side I would never have given much thought to when I was at school.

     It would be all to easy to think that growing up rich will give you everything you ever wanted and live would be a dream. But as Verkaik show, being shipped off, often hundreds of miles from your family to go to school can do something altogether not pleasant to the way you think. And I would point out that I'm not saying everyone's experience of private school twisted them into little monsters. But the impression I got from this book is that a good many have.  It seems to breed a certain way of looking not only at the world but of people who have never been part of there own. I suppose all you have to do is look at the state of British politics to realize this. All of our leaders went to private schools. It seems to me that it only allows them to think in the same way, even if they all claim different political allegiances. This is becoming ever more highlighted by our now general election. where their words may change, but the game they are running is so close it is hard to tell the differences. 

     For me, the author has set out a well throughout the book. He has tried his best to give an unbiased opinion as to how we came to be in the current situation we find our selves in. As is pointed out for reasons that stretch back a very, very long way the British people seem to have a blind spot when it comes to the rich elite. We seem to give them a pass time after time as they rip our country apart. I find it funny that people like Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage both claim to be for the poor and working classes yet have never lived a day on minimum wage or below the poverty line. How is it time and again we are fooled by these people? In part, the author manages to answer some of my questions and does a great job to cover a great deal of ground. I fear it is a subject that you could write so many books and articles about. But for his part, he has done a great job of getting across the message I think he set out to do. It is hard to see you are trapped in a closed system with not much hope of change from the inside. Just look at the London riots of two thousand and eleven does anyone really remember them now sidelined by our politicians with distractions and magic tricks. 

     There is a lot in this book that should seem obvious but until it's pointed out kind of exists in your side view. That little blind spot we all seem to have. It is also a book that is likely to make you a wee bit on the angry side. How we are on a daily basis pushed and pulled in the direction they want and one we think is of our own choosing. It's like those reality t.v scare programs when all is reviled you can't help but feel a wee bit stupid for not having seen it.