Engines of Privilege
{{Short description|Book by Francis Green and David Kynaston}}
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| isbn = 9781526601278
| oclc = 1101130802
| publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing
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| name = Engines of Privilege: Britain's Private School Problem
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| caption = First edition
| author = Francis Green
David Kynaston
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Engines of Privilege: Britain's Private School Problem is a book by Francis Green and David Kynaston about private schools in the United Kingdom.{{Cite book|title=Engines of privilege : Britain's private school problem|last1=Green|first1= Francis|last2=Kynaston|first2= David|isbn=978-1-5266-0127-8|year=2019|location=London|publisher=Bloomsbury|oclc=1108696740}} The authors argue that the "educational apartheid"{{cite web|first2=David|last2=Kynaston|first1=Francis|last1=Green|year=2019|title=It is educational apartheid: are we finally ready to end private schools?|website=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/26/the-end-of-private-schools-david-kynaston-frances-green|quote="in no other western society are private schools so deeply entrenched or so corrosive in their effects"—Francis Green and David Kynaston}}{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN36jVSp1x0|website=youtube.com|title=Should we abolish private schools?|publisher=The Guardian|first=Maya|last=Goodfellow|year=2019}} of independent (private) schools and state schools in the United Kingdom:
- prevents social mobility and meritocracy
- underpins damaging democratic deficit
- perpetuates privilege (and social inequality) through generations{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVLBIxuWfRM|title=Why middle class kids get the best jobs - BBC Stories|first=Amol|last=Rajan|year=2019|publisher=BBC|authorlink=Amol Rajan|website=youtube.com}}
- deploys national resources unfairly and suboptimally
Reviews
Published in 2019, the book received a range of reviews from commentators inside and outside private schools.{{cite journal|last1=Steedman|first1=Carolyn|authorlink=Carolyn Steedman|title=Francis Green and David Kynaston, Engines of Privilege: Britain's Private School Problem|journal=History Workshop Journal|volume=89|year=2020|pages=288–293|issn=1363-3554|doi=10.1093/hwj/dbaa008|quote= One of the explanations Green and Kynaston propose for a 150-year history of stalled, delayed, abandoned and half-hearted attempts to change Britain's peculiar system of private schooling is that most people just can't be bothered.}}{{cite web|publisher=New Statesman|authorlink=Janice Turner|first=Janice|last=Turner|year=2019|title=The 7 per cent problem: Public life in Britain is dominated by the privately educated|website=newstatesman.com|location=London|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190203065955/https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2019/01/private-schools-dominate-britain-engines-of-privelege-greem-kynaston-review|archivedate=2019-02-03 |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2019/01/private-schools-dominate-britain-engines-of-privelege-greem-kynaston-review }}{{cite web |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/02/our-public-schools-now-resemble-five-star-hotels-with-a-russian-and-asian-clientele/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223124837/https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/02/our-public-schools-now-resemble-five-star-hotels-with-a-russian-and-asian-clientele/|archivedate=2019-12-23|website=spectator.co.uk|publisher=The Spectator|location=London|first=Alex|last=Renton|authorlink=Alex Renton|title=Our public schools now resemble five-star hotels — with a Russian and Asian clientele|year=2019}}{{Cite web |website=lse.ac.uk|year=2019|url=https://www.lse.ac.uk/Events/2019/02/20190211t1830vSZT/Engines-of-Privilege.aspx|author=Anon|title=Engines of Privilege: Britain|publisher=London School of Economics and Political Science}}{{cite journal|last1=Goldstone|first1=Ross|title=Engines of privilege: Britain's public school problem|journal=British Journal of Educational Studies|year=2019|volume=68|pages=131–133|issn=0007-1005|doi=10.1080/00071005.2019.1682278|s2cid=210373241}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2019/02/27/review-of-engines-of-privilege-britains-private-school-problem/|title=Review of 'Engines of Privilege: Britain's Private School Problem'|first1= Nick |last1=Hillman|authorlink=Nick Hillman|date=2019 |website=hepi.ac.uk|publisher=Higher Education Policy Institute|quote=This is a superb book}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/non-fiction/idea-payingschool-fees-slowlybecoming-absurd/|title=The idea of paying school fees is slowly becoming absurd|first=Allison|last=Pearson|date=2019|website=telegraph.co.uk|publisher=The Daily Telegraph|location=London}} {{subscription required}}{{Cite web |url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2019/07/16/book-review-engines-of-privilege-britains-private-school-problem-by-francis-green-and-david-kynaston/|title=Book Review: Engines of Privilege: Britain's Private School Problem by Francis Green and David Kynaston|date=2019|first=Ross|last= Goldstone|website=blogs.lse.ac.uk}} Writing in the Financial Times, Miranda Green wrote, "we can expect the manifesto-writers at the next general election to pass magpie-like over these chapters ... The appeal to act is heartfelt."{{Cite web|url=https://www.ft.com/content/84430be4-2eb6-11e9-8744-e7016697f225|publisher=Financial Times|website=ft.com|first=Miranda|last=Green|year=2019|title=What to do about Britain's private school problem? |location=London}} {{subscription required}} Privately educated journalist Hugo Rifkind in The Times described the book as doing "a fine job of explaining and damning Britain's private school problem", but also commented that "this powerful attack on public schools ends up an unintended advert for them".{{Cite web |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/review-engines-of-privilege-britains-private-school-problem-by-francis-green-and-david-kynaston-unjust-elitist-please-let-my-kids-in-mp9h9r76g|title=Review: Engines of Privilege: Britain's Private School Problem by Francis Green and David Kynaston — unjust, elitist; please let my kids in|first=Hugo|last=Rifkind|date=2019|website=The Times|location=London}} {{subscription required}}{{cite web|url=https://www.sec-ed.co.uk/best-practice/a-school-system-that-drives-social-justice-education-poverty-disadvantage-equity-resources-funding-part-three|website=sec-ed.co.uk|title=Social justice and schools: Resources & funding|first=David|last=Anderson|year=2020}}
Much of criticism of the book came from commentators who were privately educated, rather than in state schools, what the book calls independent school lobbyists on behalf of the Independent Schools Council (ISC):
- The privately educated poet Kate Clanchy writing in The Guardian, described the book as "aloof considerations of educational issues"{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/25/engines-of-privilege-private-school-problem-david-kynaston-francis-green-review |title=Engines of Privilege review – a challenge to Britain's private schools?|first=Kate|last=Clanchy|authorlink=Kate Clanchy|date= 2019|website=The Guardian}}
- Private school head Patrick Derham at Westminster School in London, saw the book as a "missed opportunity" that "falls short of a full account of the story of social mobility".{{Cite web|url=https://www.tes.com/news/book-review-engines-privilege-britains-private-school-problem|title=Book review – Engines of Privilege: Britain's Private School Problem|website=tes.com |publisher=Times Educational Supplement|first=Patrick|last=Derham|year=2019}}
Anne McElvoy (state educated) wrote that the book "reminds us that many arguments recur down the decades".{{Cite web|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/books/engines-of-privilege-britain-s-private-school-problem-by-francis-green-and-david-kynaston-review-a4054146.html|title=Two leading academics on how Britain should educate children|date=January 31, 2019|website=standard.co.uk|location=London|publisher=Evening Standard|first=Anne|last=McElvoy}}
References
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Category:2019 non-fiction books
Category:Books about education
Category:Collaborative non-fiction books