Sir, – Recently The Irish Timeshas carried a number of myopic eulogies to the system of State support for fee-paying schools, which are based on little more than sentimental recollection and anecdotal evidence. George Hook asserted yesterday, along with a few digs about an imagined band of overzealous "atheists and socialists", that the status quo is justified by fee-paying schools' supposed enhancement of educational achievement (Education Today, September 20th). This is unsupported by any evidence other than the nostalgic evocation of a purity of ethos and discipline which, appallingly, he contrasts with the diversity and multilingualism of today's pupil cohort. This ignores the international study cited in this newspaper, on August 10th, which showed that fee-paying schools carry no educational premium as such.
In the absence of any clear educational benefit that would justify it, Mr Hook overlooks how State support for fee-paying schools may act as an instrument of reproduction of class differences and contribute to the polarisation of our society.
To invoke the value of parental choice is misleading. As things stand, the State places various conditions on the allocation of public funding for schools. We suggest that the most eminently reasonable of these conditions should be that recognised schools admit students of all backgrounds, with no regard to financial means.– Yours, etc,