ABSTRACT
The most famous names in private education commit enormous resources to widening access through bursaries. Although the private–state debate has been argued for decades, and continues unabated, it is generally conducted on the basis of mere assertion. In any discussion of the way in which private schools are alleged to perpetuate or legitimise privilege, there is the underlying assumption that they are all the same; that they will admit their members to an old-school-tie network, to an exclusive club. The whole point of private schools is to gain privileges over others. It seems that Tories and private schools alike think that only clever poor children deserve better. The middle classes fight as hard as they can to get their children into the popular state schools, though the point about top-performing state schools being selective merely serves to illustrate what those who use private schools grade as 'success'.
