In a previous post, I wrote about the cost of independent schools and the opportunities they offer. I ended up talking about friends who had attended independent schools and how they felt their careers were based on their own achievements and not the school. Nevertheless, they would definitely want to send their children to an independent school, too. I believe I know now why. The last piece was the research on Eton College and the careers of David Cameron, Boris Johnson and their families. Others were the research on the cost of living, including the cost of childcare, schools and universities, as well as the British understanding of education, the healthcare system and the reality of life for many Britons.
Attending a good independent school represents so much more, even if much of it is linked to career and higher earnings. If one doesn't attend a better school, the chances in life will look like this: One has to fight their way through a dysfunctional education system to "learn" skills on paper that are necessary for a semi-lucrative job.
One lives in a small house that looks like all the others in the street, if not the whole neighbourhood. In debt and underpaid, one has to save on everything, whether it's food, furniture or heating. You wouldn't believe how cold many English homes are.
Life is meagre, but no great expectations or needs have been raised anyway. The education is as limited as the choice of groceries in supermarkets. The beauty of art and literature is as insignificant as British history. Their whole life seems to focus on earning enough money to survive In the event of sickness, the healthcare system is often inadequate.
The system is setup to get citizens into jobs and stay there. Many Britons are degraded to be worker bees.
How different is the world of those who visit independent schools. Attending a top university is almost guaranteed, and with it access to well-paid jobs, which are far more necessary (to survive) in the UK than in Germany.
(Of course) it is easier to pay for property or childcare and to provide the offspring with a career-enhancing education themselves. In addition, private health insurance affordable or even provided for. This means that good medical care is available when it is needed and not weeks or even months later.
And not to be underestimated: One become part of a small network of peers, in which different groups may be in competition with each other, but which also supports each other: David Cameron made it to the top row of a communications company without a previous career in industry or politics and Boris Johnson's journalistic career would have been over before it had really begun after he was sacked from The Times. Johnson's career in particular is unthinkable without the network of friends and acquaintances in high positions.
Pupils at independent schools can also go through a stressful time, they hardly receive a broad education either and their lives will revolve around money. But other values count, too. Their schools promote talent. Pupils are encouraged to pursue their interests. My wife, for example, was advised to start a career as an artist. When she decided to study medicine, her teachers were downright offended.
We see the result in our circle of friends. Former independent school pupils decorate their properties more like the German educated middle class. There are bookshelves and pictures on the wall. Other furnishings do not only exist, but have been put together with a sense of aesthetics. Even if the residents are short of money.
However, meeting graduates from elite educational institutions can also be frustrating. In discussions I have often enough experienced one's own alma mater is mentioned in order to add weight to arguments. And some Oxford graduates in particular act as if they are somehow superior. They dispense with any factual argument; their own convictions are quite enough to support their position. Both would be laughable if others did not react with obsequiousness.
The British people still seem to divide themselves into aristocrats and commoners. Only the barrier is not defined and maintained by medieval rules, but by money and the education system. Those who have the means are allowed to develop their personality, enjoy prestige, make a career, live healthy and enable their children to have the same life.
Without wealth, you are trained to toil, your own interests are irrelevant, as is your health, and the chances that your children will fare better are slim. People struggle to pay rents or banks, in other words, to finance the lives of the owners of their flats or the shareholders of the banks. Just like in an aristocracy, only with different means.
The abolition of the welfare state has intensified the division. The elites were freed from the "burden" of having to look after the rest of the people. There is no such thing as society. And the lack of education has the side effect that the masses do not understand the real causes of their misery. Otherwise they would not have been misled by the illusion of an EU dictatorship, but would have rebelled against those actually responsible...
I admit that my assessment of British society is exaggerated. Like everything in life, it cannot be divided into black and white, but has many shades. Top universities are not the preserve of the moneyed elite; even at Oxford, almost 60 per cent of new British students each year are graduates of state schools [1]. And of course there are state schools that also promote the interests of their students.
Many Britons and employers care little about the name of the educational institution they attend, Britons are allowed to organise their leisure time as they wish, NHS doctors are very concerned about their patients and, in general, most Britons are kind people who embrace others in a friendly manner.
Some of our friends even assured me that the differences between the various schools were merely folkloristic. But the tendency towards class society cannot be dismissed. After all, around 40 per cent of British students at Oxford attended independent schools before, although they only make up just under 7 per cent of Britain's pupil body. And according to a report by the Sutton Trust, former independent school students also occupy a disproportionately high number of top positions in professional life. For example, 65 per cent of senior judges and 44 per cent of newspaper columnists (of the leading outlets) have a similar background. Among the top earners in the glittering world of show business (film, TV and music), the figure is 38 per cent. In politics, they make up 45 per cent of Conservative MPs in the House of Commons, and more than half of Cabinet members went to independent schools [2].
I have often noticed that our friends are trapped in their respective bubbles. For example, when I discussed my salary expectations with them: Those who had attended state schools, good universities and worked in a "normal" job environment thought my salary expectations were as ridiculous as my recruiter. No physicist could earn 60 or even 70,000 GBP a year as an employee. They even doubted such incomes were possible in Germany, the thought was just too ridiculous.
Other friends, private students, graduates of the most elite universities and now working in various positions in the City of London, were very sorry for us Germans. Low salaries are paid on the continent, in the UK I will surely earn at least £150,000 a year with Ph.D., regardless of the sector. Everything else would be preposterous.
Because of our diverse group of friends, as well as my perspective from the outside, I am probably more aware of the division in British society than others. But you can notice it in everyday life, if you keep your eyes open. For example, our neigbourhood consisted of a mixture of social classes, but otherwise went different ways, starting with shopping for groceries.
Unsurprisingly, I only met the richer part at delicatessens and Waitrose. One has to be able to afford high prices. At the other end of the price spectrum, at Lidl, Aldi or Iceland, in Germany I was used to being surrounded by all types of classes. At our British Lidl I was joined by a few other foreigners, some students and the British lower class.
The atmosphere in the shop was harsh. After just a few weeks, I was called asshole more often than I had been in my entire life. And who knows what else. Apart from asshole, I hardly understood a word of what was being hurled back at me. English accents are much more linked to social background than in Germany. At Waitrose, on the other hand, all customers are reservedly friendly and every single word is understandable.
Yes, based on my observations I believe British society is still very much defined by class and class thinking. The divide may not be absolute, but it is much more present than in Germany, much more pronounced than some Brits want to admit. And one of many consequences is a small group form the upper class running the country. Without having a clue about real life in the UK... No wonder the rich become richer, and the poor become more every day.
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