A timely and devastating critique

This well-argued polemic by two privately educated beneficiaries of our uniquely skewed system of education lays bare the deeply entrenched unfairness that benefits a little than 6 percent of school children at the expense of the rest. The benefits tend to be lifelong and passed from generation to generation including enhanced opportunities to enter the best universities and to secure well-paid and influential jobs. They don’t mention that many of these jobs and roles are often more interesting and fulfilling, nor that they enable a richer and more varied experience of life. I was surprised to learn that Britain is the only country to have such a strong private school system. At the opposite end of the spectrum is Finland, which has pursued a fair education goal since the 1960s and has an unusually happy and well-balanced society. The book explores options and sets out possible solutions to rebalance our own system. Very well argued but opposition is formidable and deep seated.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

Poorly argued opinion piece

I was looking forward to hearing their argument but in the end they presented very little in the way of genuine evidence, relying more on the opinions of prominent people to support their case. This was compounded by skewing the interpretation of genuine evidence (e.g. they described the result of an opinion poll where 63% supported their question while 18% opposed it as over 3/4 supported the question) which only served to weaken their credibility. And while they did mention counter arguments, they tended to brush over them leaving me feeling totally unconvinced.
In summary this might have made a decent opinion piece in a newspaper or magazine, but it was way too light on genuine evidence and scientific reasoning to warrant 10 hours of my life listening to it.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!