* Visitors from abroad are often confused about why schools are described as “public” when they are such bastions of privilege, but in many cases they were set up by craft guilds to assist with the education of members’
children who had fallen on hard times.
These days, though, the argument that public schools save the state money by educating children is not balanced by other costs. Public schools educate 7 per cent of pupils but employ 15 per cent of teachers (those whopping fees allow for small classes), but there is no contribution made for the training of teachers. Maybe they could make a substantial offering towards this cost.
Richard Knights Liverpool