Loosening the Old School Tie

Boys & girls from the working and lower-middle classes should be admitted at Government expense to Eton, Harrow and the 318 other English "public" (i.e., private) schools. Such was the revolutionary proposal, last week, of a special Parliamentary committee, headed by Lord Fleming. Its 65,000-word report recommended that up to 25% of public-school enrollment should come from economic groups unable to pay the -L-80 to -L-280 tuition fees.

Rooted deep in the past (Winchester was founded in 1382, Eton in 1440), the public schools have for centuries been the exclusive preserves of Britain's ruling classes. But the notion of changing this cherished status quo sprang from no proletarian revolt. It came from the public schools themselves, as they saw their enrollments cut by depression, by a declining birth rate, by upped income taxes.

Says the Very Rev. Dr. Cyril Alington, Dean of Durham and onetime headmaster of Eton: "Of course all public schools should be open to everyone. The public schools need the best from all classes."

Enriched Inheritance. The Fleming committee proposal is not included in Britain's famed Education Bill, but may be added later. The Education Bill, described by Minister of Education Richard A. ("Rab") Butler as the most far-reaching reform measure in Britain's educational history, is expected to become law this week. By it Britain will take a long step forward on the road to genuine equality of opportunity for its children.

At present, schooling ends for 85% of British children at the age of 14 1/2. Only one in ten of the 5,000,000 children of school age completes high school. The Education Bill provides: 1) compulsory school attendance to 15 (later to be upped to 16); 2) county colleges, which youths of 15 to 18 must attend one day a week; 3) free nursery schools; 4) more university scholarships, more & better technical schools.

The project will raise the public cost of English and Welsh education by a hundred million pounds, from -L-103 million to -L-203 million. (Scotland, with its own educational system, is not included.) But Tories, Laborites and Liberals alike are determined to "secure for children a happier childhood and a better start in life . . . provide means for all of developing the various talents with which they are endowed and so enriching the inheritance of the country."

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