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Why are there more films about public schools than state schools?

posted 13 years ago by hugh1971
5 replies | jump to latest

Firstly, for US listeners, public school in the UK means private school, and state school means public school.

It strikes me that there are quite a few books and films attacking the public school system - 'If', 'Good and Bad at Games', 'Another Country', but I can't think of any that critique the state school/comprehensive system.

I can only think of 'To Sir With Love' and possibly 'Spare the Rod', but these are very dated and don't really seem to address the problems of British state education. It seems very odd that we don't have films about the kind of schools that the vast majority of British people attend.

Could it be that comprehensive state education is one of the 'sacred cows' of the left (and most non-populist writers, film makers etc are left-leaning) so nobody is willing to intelligently criticise it?

[–] Sid-Blitzen 13 years ago

There are TV series that address modern comprehensives, like Teachers and Waterloo Road. But the mood is one of indulgence, rather than criticism.

[–] fred-889 13 years ago

Teachers was wonderful - I'm thoroughly enjoying watching it on 4oD at the moment. Waterloo Road is a bit of an earnest soap opera, though; Teachers was suitably bizarre and more realistic. Although I never called any of my teachers by their Christian names.

I think that public schools are so ancient and such mythical, mysterious parts of British history and culture, that they naturally attract interest. The huge numbers of influential figures that come out of schools like Eton and Westminster make them relevant to modern Britain, despite their rather anachronistic nature; that, combined with the quirks and eccentricities that come from some old boys (stress on SOME, many will be institutionalised bores of the worst kind), make them quite an alluring subject for drama.

Also, with private education being the sought after goal for many aspirational Britons who want to arrive into a life of status, a result of the passive influence the class system has, many eyes and ears are drawn to the subject.

It's just a great shame that so many people - in the circles in which I move at least - are so fearful of the local comprehensive. I hardly had by ambition squashed at my school, and I've got into bloody Oxford! A damaging, enduring belief.

[–] karnevilelp 9 years ago

I'm a Yank so I apologize in advance if I get any of the nuances wrong. Even among the two big universities, Oxford and Cambridge, there are some differences. Oxford is stereotypically where future civil servants go before they become Junior Undersecretary to the Minister of Housing, more "arty" types go to Cambridge (such as the great writer E.M. Forster).

Here in the US, we have Harvard and Yale and plenty of private schools where the well-off send their kids as a route in to those two schools. The bookkeeper at my job and her husband paid astronomical sums of money to send her daughter to an exclusive K-12 private school here in Los Angeles, her daughter then went to Pitzer College, something like $55,000 a year tuition. All for a useless Anthropology degree!  

[–] Pan32 13 years ago

Check out Kes for a great film on state supported schools in the UK. The attraction for British "public schools" is the snob appeal I think as they are definitely the domain of the upper classes and of these the most upper is Eton, the scene of this film. But Eton is for the ages up to 18 so to see these guys in there mid-twenties acting as school boys was a downer for me. The actors should have been teens but this could have been a non-starter in the US with homosexual theme.

[–] london777 7 years ago

Clockwise (1986) - a comedy, but has serious points to make about state and "public" schools

Notes on a Scandal (2006) - not about the school system, but the environment shapes the plot

Fever Pitch (1997) - the leads are teachers in a state school

An Education (2009) - despite the title has only brief scenes set in a state school